Only The Lonely
by MechanicalNecromancer
Summary: Naomi Ayami is a 15 year old girl that has just enrolled in a new boarding school. She finds out her roommates are a rather unique bunch of guys. How will she deal with this? Will she make new friends? PeinxOC. Want me to add your OC? PM me and we will discuss.
1. First Day

Naomi Ayami, 15, Sophmore in highschool.

Naomi PoV:

On October 2nd, I woke up to my alarm clock screaming at me, demanding I get up. I groaned and sat up, reaching over and shutting it off. First day of highschool, sophmore . I am being admitted to Konohagakure Boarding School. I got up and walked over to my closet, this would be the last time in my room, after this I would be living with random people I don't even know. They told me I could even get lumped in with guys. I shuddered at the thought.

I picked out one of my favorite outfits: Purple skinny jeans with rips that were replaced with lacy black fabric, and my favorite shirt, a black T-shirt that read 'Don't Mess With The Grim Reaper' In colorful lettering on the front. And on the back it had a picture of the grim reaper holding a skeleton. I walked into the bathroom and stared at my bed-head and look at my face in the mirror, odd eyes, septum piercing I'm bound to scare people. My septum piercing goes through the lower middle part of my nose, pointed on each side like a devil's tail. I also have black spiderbite rings on one side of my bottom lip.

I open the drawer and pull out the hair-straightener. I plugged it in and turned it on, and then set it on the counter. Iopened the door again and pulled out the little container that holds the small amount of make up I own. I picked up one of the black eyeliner sticks and begin to line my odd colored eyes. The inner part of my iris is a aqua green, the outer part is a cold ice blue, with black flecks. I also have 2 piercings on my hips, and 3 on each side of my ribs.

The eyeliner brings out the old flecks in my eyes. My eyes change according to my mood, red when mad, a dark blue when I'm sad. When I'm finished lining my eyes I took out my mascara and put think coat over my naturally long eyelashes. I sigh and put away my make up, knowing I'm going to have to pack it up when I'm done getting ready. I rub my tounge piercing across the roof of my mouth absently, I do this a lot.

I sigh and begin to work a brush through my hair, I brushed it all straight out, it now covers my face and I am unable to see. I brush it out of my face, only for it to fall right back in. I flip it back so it won't fall back into place and then spray it with water. After it has dried I begin to straighten it. My hair is quite odd as well, most of it is black, but it has natural blonde highlights in my swept over fringe that covers one of my eyes, and at the tips of my hair.

My hair falls all the way to the back of my waist. I left it down for today, knowing if I had tried to do anything else with it, it would've taken an extra hour. I pulled out my hairbrush and brushed my bangs down, letting them fall over one of my eyes, hiding it completely. I started to hum as I reached back into the drawer, pulling out a silver heart locket. I slipped it over my head and opened it. I looked at the picture of my mother, who is now gone.

Trying not to cry I shut the locket and walk out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. I sat down on the floor and began to put on my rainbow high-top shoes, tieing them tight to my feet, lacing the black laces all the way up. I stood up and picked up my purple suitcase and began loading all of my belongings into it. There are lots of pockets to all of it should fit.

I don't have much, sets of clothes, 2 extra pairs of shoes, a shower towel just in case. I smiled and I packed my batman cape into the suitcase as well. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed everything I knew I would need. My hair straightener, along with the products I use. I picked up the two containers in the drawers. One holds my make up, the other holds things for my skin.

I make sure to grab my toothbrush along with my toothpaste. Also my piercing cleaner and mouthwash, just the basic things I need. After I'm done I have to sit on it to close it, even when I'm sitting on it, I still struggle to move the zipper forward. Finally, I get it and stand up, dragging the big purple lump with me towards the door. As soon as I walk out I realize I'm cold.I quickly return back into my room pick up a black leather jacket from my bed.

I slipped it onto my shoulders, it only comes down to my ribs but I love the old thing. It has a zipper and a buckle on the front, but I don't zip it, leaving it open. I then return back into the bathroom where I left my iPod on the counter, knowing I'll get bored I grab it. I leave my little apartment, walking out into chill of the October wind.

I call a cab and it stops a few feet from me. The man driving the cab steps out of the car to help me get my heavy bag into the trunk. He lifts it and puts it in the trunk, and then slams it shut. I opened the door and climbed inside, grateful that the cab had heat.

"Where to?" He asked politely, looking at me in the rearview mirror.

"Konohagakure Boarding School, please." I said, smiling. He nodded and pulled into the road in front of us.

"So, you're a student, huh?" He asked, trying to be nice and make small talk.

"Yes." I replied, smiling back.

"What year? You look pretty young." He said, looking at me skeptically.

"I'm a Sophmore this year." I said, looking at the floor in the cab.

"Ah, you must be pretty smart, to get into a school like this." He said, pulling up to the big building. A large banner over what looked to be the main entrance read 'Welcome Students!' in bright red letters.

"I guess you could say that." I said, stepping out of the car. I walked to the back of the car again. The cab driver opens the trunk and hands me my bag. I took it from his hands and then handed him $10.

"Thank you. Have a nice day, ma'am." He said, nodding to me.

"You, too." I said, smiling. He nods again and I start walking toward the big school doors. I set down the bag and began to heave it toward the large group of students gathered by the door. I see many faces that I haven't before, some look vaguely familiar, I'd probably seen them around town in restaurants or something. A rather loud group of people catch my attention.

"FUCK! Why does this fucking hell-hole make us wait so fucking long?!" Someone shouted. I looked over to see a tall guy with silverish hair and magenta eyes. He glares at everyone, except the people who are around him, they're all guys and they're a rather odd bunch. One has blue skin, one has black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. Another one was blonde and had long blonde hair pulled back into a half-ponytail. Another one has shaggy red hair that falls around his dark brown eyes. There's also one wearing a mask, he has eerie jade green eyes and stitches on his arms. Another one has lots of piercings and bright orange hair. I had just began to walk by the group of boys when I hear:

"Hey Pein, check out the hottie with the piercings. Damn, her hair is long as fuck!" I turn around, knowing that their talking about me. Not to my surprise, it's the cussing motor-mouth from before. I turned around, and he's looking at me, they all are.

"You have something to say, say it to my face." I growled, glaring at them. The one with the blue skin looks at the one with the black hair in a ponytail and raises his eyebrows, the black-haired guy does the same thing back and then they both look at me again.

"Ooh, fiesty." He said, taking a step towards me. His gang of friends stay back, looking at the ground and whispering.

"Fine, I'll say it to your face. You have piercings, and your hot. And your hair is long as hell." He said, looking at me. I'm tempted to swing my bag around and smack him right in the face, but I don't. Instead, I drop my bag, I took a step closer and smile. He smirks back, thinking that I'm interested. He doesn't know how wrong he is.

Without warning, I swung my fist back and connected it to his face, he staggers back and looks at me, his eyes wide. The blue one and the one with black hair both busted out laughing, falling to their knees they were laughing so hard. A few people from the large group of students by the door look toward us, but don't do anything.

"OW! Fucking bitch! That hurt!" He yells, backing up in the direction of his friends, who are still laughing.

"Yeah, kinda the point of punching you in the face." I said, smiling.

"You deserved it, Hidan." Said the one with red hair, smirking as well. I notice the blonde one laugh a little as well. The one with the bright orange hair glances at the guy named Hidan and rolled his eyes. His gaze travels to me, and stays on me for a while. I try not to look in his direction while he is staring at me. The one with the blue skin runs over to me, followed by the blonde one.

"High-five! You are the first girl to ever hit him." He said, still laughing a little and holding up his hand. I high-five him, because it's my first day, I don't want a terrible reputation already. The blonde holds up his hand as well, smiling at me. I high-five him as well.

"I must know your name." Said the one with the blue skin. "I'm Kisame." He said, holding out his hand.

"Naomi Ayami." I said.

"Deidara. Nice to meet you, Naomi." Says the blonde, holding out his hand as well. I shake both of their hands and smile. They seem ok, so far. I pulled back my hand and then turn it over, it's a little wet for some reason.

"Oh, sorry. Mouth hands." Deidara said, holding up his hands. Sure enough, there were mouths were palms should be.

"So what year are you?" Kisame asked, as I wiped my hand on my jeans.

"Sophmore." I replied, wiping my hand on my jeans.

"Us too!" Deidara said, and waved somebody over. The red head and the one with the black hair came over, curious.

"Sasori! Itachi! This girl is a Sophmore just like us!" Kisame said, grinning. I noticed that his mouth is filled with sharp, shark-like teeth.

"Really?" Said the one with the black hair. I noticed he had blood-red eyes. "I'm Itachi." He said, nodding at me.

"I'm Sasori." Said the red haid, nodding to me as well.

"Nice job on Hidan there. I can already tell that's gonna leave a bruise. No girl has ever stood up to him like that. Especially a little girl like you." Itachi said, smirking. It was true, I was only about 5' 2''. Extremely short for my age.

"Yeah, but it just shows how much of a badass she is." Kisame said, winking at me. I smirk back.

"Pein's gonna like her." Itachi said, smiling.

"Huh?" I asked, confused. Suddenly a piercing siren filled the air, making most of the students jump in surprise and fright.

"Hello, Students." The voice boomed. "I am Iruka, and I will be giving you all your schedules and room numbers." Iruka's voice boomed over the bullhorn he was holding, not like he needed it, he could probably yell just as loud.

"Ok, all Freshman, please enter the building, Sophmores, Juniors, and Seniors stay out here for a moment while I give these students their schedules and dorm room numbers." Iruka boomed, and with that he walked inside the building, a cluster of scared-looking students followed him.

"Sophmores are next." Sasori sighed, looking at the ground. The others look to him and then nodded.

"I hope we have classes with you, you seem really cool." Kisame said, smiling.

"Yeah, I hope I have classes with you guys. You guys seem cool, too." I said, smiling back. Another piercing siren filled the air and I covered my ears, swearing under my breath.

"Sophmores." Iruka's voice boomed again. "Please enter the building." The bullhorn let out a loud beep as it shut off.

"Walk with us?" Deidara asked, smirking. I nodded and began to follow the four into the building, dragging my bag behind me. I cast a look over my shoulder and saw the other three following close behind us. We walked into the building and into a massive hallway. In the middle of the hallway there was Iruka, holding a big stack of papers. Naturally, I was almost always the first name to be called because my last name was Ayami. When all of the Sophmores got into the building they shut the doors behind us, cutting off the chilly air from coming inside the warm building.

"Ok, let's get started." Iruka said, without the bullhorn this time, to my relief.

"Sasori Akasuna." He said, looking around. I turned around and looked at Sasori in surprise. I stepped to the side, letting him pass. He walked up and grabbed his schedule from Iruka.

"Naomi Ayami-Tokiyama." I was shocked. They were using my hyphonated last name, adding my dad's last name onto it. I walked up to Iruka, grabbing the schedule from him.

"It's just Ayami now." I said, looking at Iruka. He nodded and jotted it down on a pad of paper. I walked back to where Kisame, Itachi, Deidara, and Sasori were. They were giving me weird looks, they hadn't heard what I had said to Iruka. The rest of the names were called and we were all to report to out first period class. First period I had Math. I found the Math room and walked in, still towing my bag.

"Naomi! Naomi, over here!" I heard someone's hushed voice. I look up to see Kisame sitting next to an empty seat. I smiled and walked over to him, sitting down beside him.

"You're in this class! That's great!" He said, grinning. I smiled back and nodded. I looked up at the door just as two of the people from the group entered the room. It was the one with the orange hair and lots of piercings, and the one with the mask and stitches. They walked to the empty table in front of me and Kisame and sat down.

"Kakuzu! Kakuzu, I'm sitting behind you!" Kisame said, his voice hushed as she poked the guy with the mask in the back with a pencil.

"No shit, you idiot. You're the only one other than Pein that I know in this class. Now shut up." The guy named Kakuzu said, and then turned back around.

"Pein-!" Kisame starts to say, but he got cut off.

"Don't even." The one with the orange hair said, turning around long enough to give Kisame a glare. His eyes floated across me again, and stayed there. This time I stared back and tilted my head slightly. We sat there, staring at each other, our eyes locked. Finally he blinked and turned back around and faced the front. The bell rang for first class to end and I stood up, and started dragging my bag towards the Social Studies room. I walked into the room to find Sasori and Deidara already at a table next to eachother. They were speaking quietly when I walked in, and then had looked up upon hearing my footsteps.

"Naomi!" Deidara said a little loudly, earning a couple stares from the table next to theirs. I sat at the empty table in front of theirs and soon Itachi walked into the room. He smiled and sat down next to me. I looked toward the back of the room and saw the guy who Kisame had called Pein at the back, sitting at a table with the loud mouth I had punched earlier.

"Hi, Naomi." Itachi said, smirking.

"Hi, Itachi." I said, smiling back. We all sat there, acting stupid and getting more stares from tables around us. They probably thought we were insane. They weren't completely wrong. The bell rang after a while and I walked to Art. I found the Art room, still towing my bag around. My arm had started to hurt from carrying it around. I walked in the room and realized there was only one table that wasn't completely full.

I sat down across from a girl with her hair wavy hair pulled into a high ponytail on the top of her head. She was wearing eyeliner and red lipstick. She had white tunnels in her ears that were quite large. She was sitting next to a somber-looking boy who closely resembled Itachi. Without the lines on his face, and the back of his hair looked like the wrong end of a duck and I stifled a giggle at that thought.

"Hi! I'm Noki! What's your name?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Naomi." I said, smiling.

"Ooh, that's an interesting name. What does it mean?" She asked, grinning.

"Um, when I was younger my mother told me that it meant beautiful, pleasant, and delightful." I replied, looking at the ground.

"Cool!" She said, smiling. She then looked over at the somber-looking boy beside her. "Oh and this is Sasuke." She said, smiling. Was it possible for a person to smile this much? The boy named Sasuke gave a small wave. I heard footsteps at the door and then looked up to see who it was. I looked up to see the guy who's name was Pein walk through the door and scan the room for seats.

He looked around, I looked around as well the only seat left was the one right next to me. I turned around and stared at the table, hoping I had bad vision and there was another seat somewhere. I heard the chair beside me scrape across the floor as he pulled it back and sat down. I sighed and looked over. Sure enough, he was there, staring at the table with a blank stare.

"Hello. I'm Pein, I was there when you punched my friend Hidan in the face this morning." He said, and smirked at me.

"I'm Naomi. And your friend had it coming, talking to me like that." I said, smiling.

"You punched someone in the face?!" The girl named Noki asked. I nodded in response.

"Cool!" She said, grinning at me.

"You're quite right, he did. It's nice to see a girl like you stand up to a guy like him." Pein said.

"Yeah. Kisame and Deidara were talking to me earlier about that. I can't believe no girl has done that before." I said, grinning.

"Yeah, all of my friends keep talking about you, telling me I should meet you. Nice piercings, by the way." Pein said, smirking.

"Thanks. You too." I replied. The Art teacher walked into the room, about to take attendance. She had blue spiked up hair, and was wearing fishnet clothing.

"Ok, I'm going to check if everyone's here. Naomi?" She said, looking around.

"Here." I said, raising my hand. She called off a bunch of other names, but I wasn't really paying attention.

"Ok, everyones here. Now class, we are going to play a get to know everybody game." She said, smiling. "Everyone has to tell me their name, and what they like to do in their spare time. I'm Anko, and I like to paint. You go next." She said pointing at another table.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I like to eat ramen! Believe it!" Said a strange blonde boy with spiked up hair and blue eyes.

"I'm Sakura, and I like to study." Said a girl with bubble-gum pink hair and teal-green eyes.

"I'm Ino, and I like to pick flowers!" Said an annoying blonde girl with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. I already didn't like her.

"I'm Karin, and I like to train." Said a girl with long red hair and glasses. Anko then pointed at our table and the girl named Noki started.

"I'm Noki, and I like to play volleyball!" She said, smiling. She looked at the somber boy beside her and nudged him with her elbow.

"I'm Sasuke." He said, and sat back down. I was next.

"I'm Naomi, and I like to play piano." I said, and sat back down. I actually do really like to play the piano.

"I'm Pein, and I like to . . . draw." He said, and sat back down. It was total lie, that much was obvious. After we'd gone around the room and everyone said their name, we all started drawing.

"Look Pein, it's your favorite." I said, smirking.

"That was a lie and you know it." He said to me, almost laughing. I chuckled and smiled. The bell rang and everyone started to leave for lunch. When the bell rang Anko said we could leave our bags in the room for lunch and come back later to get them.

"Naomi, would you like to sit with me and my friends at lunch today?" Pein asked, smiling as we walked out of the door on the way to the Cafteria.

"Sure." I said, smiling. We walked through the lunchline, taking whatever looked to be edible. After we paid for our lunch, Pein lead me towards a table. At the table there was Kisame, Itachi, Deidara, and Sasori. Pein sat down next to Deidara. I sat down between Pein and Kisame.

"Hey where's Hidan?" Pein asked, looking around.

"In the office, I'm sure. I see you got Naomi to sit with us , Pein." Kisame said, grinning at me.

"Yeah. What about Kakuzu?" Pein asked.

"Oh, I heard he got in trouble because someone made fun of him for wearing a mask." Itachi said, smirking. I chuckled and smiled.

"Quite the trouble makers, huh?" I asked, smirking. Pein shrugged and Kisame grinned again. I saw Itachi shudder as Ino, Sakura, and Karin came by, gossipping loudly.

"What's with them , Itachi?" I asked, nodding to the girls.

"Don't talk to them!" Everyone at the table yelled at me, staring at me with their eyes wide.

"Why?" I asked, confused. They all looked at me like I was crazy.

"They're prissy, preppy girls. You're lucky they haven't targeted you yet." Deidara said, staring at the table.

"Don't say that. Maybe they won't. She hasn't done anything to them. Only to Hidan." Pein said, smirking.

"Yeah, but she's way prettier than them, if you brush those bangs out of her face." Kisame said, smiling at me.

"Um, thank you?" I said, looking at the table.

"He's right y'know." Pein said, patting my shoulder. I smiled and picked up the apple I had put on my tray earlier. I took a big bite out of it, filling my mouth so I couldn't talk. I chewed on it for a while, the others talked about random things. Soon everybody dumped their tray and walked back to class. I walked back into the room and sat down at the table I was before.

"Ok, class. I just wanted everyone to know, since Halloween is a big deal at this school, that you are all required to dress up for Halloween. And no, you cannot dress up as a student. Be creative! Show the things you like, what colors you like to work with. Even your favorite animal, if you'd like. So be prepared for lots and lots of decorations." Anko said, as the bell rang. All of us dredged on to our last class of the day. P.E.

I walked into the class where they all sat on the floor. Kisame, Itachi, Pein, Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, and Deidara. There was also that new girl Noki I had met in Art, and Sasuke. Along with Naruto and a lot of other people I didn't know. Kakashi then instructed us to go change and get into groups. I went in the locker room and changed into a pair of black athletic shorts and a blue shirt that said 'I 3 Hockey' on it in white letters. I walked out of the locker room where Kisame called me over to where he, Pein, and Sasori were.

"Wanna be in our group?" Sasori asked. I nodded and sat down on the ground, being too lazy too stand. When Kakashi came out he told us to remember the groups for tomorrow and then change and wait for the bell to ring. We all went back into the locker rooms and I changed back into my regular clothes and walked out into the gym. Pein was leaning back against the bleachers because they were pulled in, and was looking bored. Kisame stood next to him, chattering about something. Noki walked up to me.

"Hi!" She said enthusiastically.

"Hi." I said back, smiling.

"So, what are you gonna be for Halloween?" She asked, smiling.

"Probably a wolf. Or Batman. I'm not sure yet." I said. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm gonna be the Queen Of Hearts. But it's my own version, so it's cooler." She said, grinning. I grinned back and the bell rang. I went to the office because my room number wasn't printed on my schedule like all the others.

"Hello. What can I do for you?" The lady at the desk asked when I walked in.

"Uh, my dorm room number isn't on my schedule." I said.

"Oh, ok. What's your name?" She asked.

"Naomi Ayami."

"Ok, the number is #573. Can you find it?" She asked, looking up at me from the computer she sat at. I nodded and started to leave. I walked out of the door and into the hallway which was now empty and quiet. I walked outside to go to the other building which held the dorms. I shivered at the cold a little on the way there. When I walked through the door there was some stairs and a sign. The sign read 'Rooms 400 and under.' and had an arrow pointing to a hall in the other direction. The other side of the sign said 'Rooms 500 and above.' and had an arrow pointing toward the stairs. I walked up the stairs, my bag hitting each stair with a loud thud. I found the room and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal the loud-mouthed idiot from before.

"Oh no, not you." Hidan said, sneering. I waved and smiled sweetly.

"Hi-ya. How's your face?" I said, trying not to laugh at the huge purple mark on his cheek.

"Hidan, who's at the door?" Kisame said, coming up behind him.

"Naomi!" Kisame said, rushing forward and hugging me. "Come inside!" He said. I grabbed my bag and walked inside to reveal the rest of them.

"Naomi!" Itachi said, walking forward.

"No more hugs." I said, setting my bag down. Itachi chuckled and smirked.

"So you must be the reason there's another empty room with only one bed. 'Cause you're the only girl." Pein said. _'I'm the only girl? Oh fun.' _I thought, smirking. It turns out that I'm roommates with Pein, Kisame, Itachi, Kakuzu, and Hidan.

"So where's Sasori and Deidara?" I asked, looking around.

"They have connecting doors that lead here. Kisame and Itachi share a room, and Kakuzu and Hidan share a room. I have a room by myself and so do you. They didn't want us sharing a room because well, you're a girl." Pein said. I nodded.

"So where's my room?" I asked.

"Last room in the hall." Kisame said, nodding to it. I nodded and walked to the room. I opened the door and saw a bed. The covers were a sky blue, and had lacy black designs on them. The pillow cases were solid black and looked squishy. There was a closet, and some dressers. There was a bathroom, along with a mirror. It was a normal bathroom but had no shower, there must be another one. The walls in the room were a lavender color and the carpet was navy blue. I took off my jacket and plugged in my iPod and began to listen to music while unpacking. I unplugged the headphones and let the music drift out of the speakers. I turned in up all the way. I unzipped my bag and started unpacking. When I finished unpacking my clothes I grabbed the stuff that I needed and went to unpack my things into the bathroom. I unpacked my straightener and the containers and walked out of the bathroom. I had just stuffed the bulky bag into the closet when there was a knock on my door. I got up and went to answer it. Deidara was standing at the door and I could see the others behind him. I left the door open and sat on my bed.

"Hey, we're gonna go off campus for dinner." Kisame said, as he and the rest of them filed into my room.

"Wanna come?" Sasori asked.

"I'm buying." Kisame said, grinning.

"Yeah, we're going to McDonalds." Pein said, smirking.

"Alright, alright. I'll go." I said, standing up. Everyone headed towards the door. We all walked down the stairs and they started to walk towards a old-looking blue volkswagon bus. We all piled in. Kisame in the drivers' seat. Itachi next to him in the passenger seat, and the rest of us in the back. We soon arrived at a McDonalds and we got lots of stares as all eight of us climbed out of the car. We walked in and all ordered. We then sat down at some tables that had some other people there. I recognized Noki from school because she waved at me and was grinning. I waved back and she came over and sat next to me. On my other side was Pein, who Noki waved to as well.

"So, what are you all doing here?" Noki asked.

"Oh, we got hungry. And didn't feel like eating at school." Deidara answered.

"Ah. So who are your roommates, Naomi?" Noki asked.

"You're looking at 'em." I said, smirking.

"Really? Cool. You're the only girl?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yep. But I don't mind. Who are your roommates?" I asked, biting into my burger.

"Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru. Oh and Ino and Karin." She said, grimacing. This was the first time I haven't seen her with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, they told me I should watch out for them." I said, nodding to the guys, who were throwing fries at eachother, with Hidan cussing up a storm and earning stares from the table next to ours. I stifled a giggle and looked back at Noki. Noki was trying not to laugh as well, we stared at the boys, having a food fight like little kids. I balled up my straw wrapper and threw it. It landed in Kisame's hair but he didn't seem to notice. Pein looked over at me and I grinned. He grinned back. I saw Itachi busting out laughing and pointing to Kisame's head. Kisame looked up and picked it out of his hair. I had started giggling and so had Noki. I looked at Hidan, who had mustard splattered on his face. I burst out laughing upon seeing that. Pein looked over at him, and then looked back at me, laughing as well.

"We better leave." I said, nodding to the McDonalds imployees who were glaring at us.

"Yeah, you're right. We're gonne get kicked out if we don't." Pein said, standing up and trying to suppress his laughter. I stood up and waved to Noki, who got in a red car and then drove off. After that, we all piled into Kisame's bus again and drove home, trying to avoid flying through the windshield. When we arrived back at the dorm room corridor I saw Noki in the parking lot. I walked over to her, smiling.

"Hey." I greeted.

"Hi, why aren't you going inside?" She asked, looking at everyone else, who was currently going into the door. But I didn't see Pein anywhere.

"I saw you, and I thought I'd say hi. Why are you outside?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm avoiding my room for as long as possible. Ino and Karin are in there." She said, glaring in the direction of her room.

"Come on." I said, turning around to bump into Pein, who had been standing behind me. I bumped into him and then took a step back. I hadn't heard him come up behind me, and I hadn't seen him until now, of course.

"Hi." He said, smirking. I just rolled my eyes and walked past him to the door. The three of us went inside and Noki went in her room, frowning. I felt bad for her. Pein followed me into the dorm, to find the others on the floor, playing Candyland.

"You've got to be kidding me." I said, smirking.

"Nope. They actually play this quite often." Pein said, laughing.

"Hey guys! Come play with us! We can't play Monopoly because Kakuzu always wins." Deidara said, glaring at Kakuzu, who was smirking. The mask covered it up, but you could tell he was. I sat down on the floor between Pein and Itachi, grabbing the purple piece.

"This one's mine!" I said, snatching it up.

"Oh, I call blue!" Kisame yelled, grabbing the blue one. The rest of us picked our colors and started to play Candyland. Itachi won, zipping through the candy cane forest and the gumdrop pathes. After that everyone started to go to bed. I went into my room, I was going to draw a little and then go to sleep. I pulled out a notebook and began to sketch my mom, her light brown hair that fell down her shoulders and framed her beautiful eyes that were the same as mine. I smiled at the picture. I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in." I said, stuffing the notebook under my pillow. Pein opened the door and walked in, he sat on my bed in front of me.

"Hi." He said, smiling.

"Hi." I replied, smiling back. He reached over to the nightstand beside my bed and grabbed a picture of a wolf I had drawn.

"You're a really good artist." He said, looking at the paper.

"Thanks." I replied, smiling. He set the picture down and then picked up an origami rose I had made.

"That's pretty." He said, carefully holding the flower. I smiled and nodded.

"What's that?" He said, pointing to the edge of the notebook that was sticking out from under my pillow.

"Nothing!" I said, covering it as he reached forward for it. I tried to cover it, but he picked it up and looked at the picture of my mother. I looked down at the bed, blushing slightly.

"Who is this?" He said, gently running his finger over the page.

"My mother." I whispered quietly, tears were brimming up at the edges of my eyes and threatened to flow at remembering that she wasn't here with me, and she never would be again. A tear slid down my cheek and I looked down, my hair covered my face entirely now. I sniffled a little.

"She's gone. Isn't she?" He asked. I nodded, not trusting my voice. I still didn't look up, I didn't trust my eyes either. They were probably a dark navy blue now. I felt a warm hand under my chin, it tilted my head up. I looked up to see Pein, smiling at me. His other hand swept my bangs out of my eyes, revealing my eyes.

"She's beautiful." He said, smiling. He had set down the picture and was now sitting very close to me. "She looks a lot like you." He said, raising my head up a little. His hand still rested under my chin, holding my head up. He suddenly leaned forward, pecking my cheek. I sat there, eyes now wide, startled. I was blushing severely now, my skin had to be red. He pulled back and smiled at me.

"Have a good night." He said, and walked out without another word. After that I put away my drawing things and went to bed, surprisingly quickly.


	2. Complicated

I woke up to yelling, probably Hidan. I sat up and sighed. I then got up and walked over to the closet, where I had unloaded my clothes yesterday. I picked out a navy blue short-sleeved shirt that said 'Trolol.' on it with a troll face, and some black skinny jeans. I pulled on my rainbow converse shoes and walked into the bathroom. I plugged the straightener and started to straighten my hair, making sure there were no unusual bumps.

After that I quickly lined my eyes with black and walked out into the kitchen to find everyone sitting at the table. Hidan and Kakuzu were arguing about something that I didn't quite catch. Kisame was sitting at the table, chewing on a piece of toast.

Itachi was sitting there, drinking what looked to be tea. Pein stood back in the kitchen, leaning against the counter. I didn't see Sasori and Deidara, probably because they hadn't woken up yet. Kisame suddenly jumped into Hidan and Kakuzu's conversation.

"Naomi is way hotter than Sakura!" Kisame suddenly yelled, causing everyone at the table to look at him.

"I know, right?!" Hidan yelled back. Pein nodded in agreement. I rolled my eyes and walked into the room.

"Ahem." I said, clearing my throat loudly. Pein smirked and laughed. Itachi chuckled a couple times and Kisame looked down at the table. I walked over to the counter and grabbed a piece of toast, chewing on the corners. I looked up at Sasori walked out of a door and yawned, rubbing his eyes. Deidara walked out behind him, doing the same.

I nibbled on the crust of my toast, listening to some argument that Hidan and Kakuzu were having. Sasori and Deidara now sat on the couch, looking bored. After I finished my toast I walked over to the fridge to get a drink. I opened the fridge and found a clear fishbowl with a blue beta fishie swimming around inside it.

"Umm . . . Kisame?" I said, picking up the bowl.

"Yeah?"

"Is this your . . . er, fish?" I asked, turning around so he could see the bowl.

"Oh yeah. Captain Swimmers, I forgot about you." Kisame said, taking the bowl from my hands and walking towards his room. I blinked a couple a times and then turned around to get some apple juice.

I pulled the jug out and poured myself a glass, being careful not to spill. I sipped on my drink and Kisame walked back into the kitchen and took his seat at the table again. I drank the rest of my apple juice and walked back to my room to get my black and white checkered backpack.

I slid the bag over my head so that it rested on my shoulder. I walked back out into the kitchen where everybody was grabbing backpacks and getting ready to leave. I walked toward the door and had put my hand on the handle when something grabbed my wrist. I turned around to see Pein, holding my wrist.

"Wait. I'll walk with you." He said with a smile. I smiled back as he grabbed his backpack and followed me out the door. We walked down the stairs and out the complex door. We walked toward the school campus, where other students were also entering the school. I recalled a couple of the faces, but didn't remember much.

When inside we walked towards the math room. On the way there Pein stopped and pointed at a highlighter orange paper that read 'Halloween Dance: October 31st 6:00PM - 12:00AM Halloween Costume Mandatory! Candy Provided!' In huge black letters.

"You going?" He asked, grinning.

"Eh. Probably not." I said, grimacing at the poster.

"Why not?" Pein whined. "Candy included!" He said, pointing to the poster.

"I'm not the dancing type." I said, looking at the floor.

"Aw, come on. Kisame's going as a fish. A fish! And I'm gonna be a serial killer. Itachi's even going to be a penguin." Pein said, trying not to laugh.

"Ok. Fine, fine. I'll go. I can't wait to see Ita-Penguin." I said, stifling laughter. Pein laughed. The bell rang and everyone filed into the room, sitting down. I sat down next to Pein, in front of Kakuzu and Kisame.

"Naomi." I heard a deep voice say. I didn't recognize the voice. I turned around to see Kakuzu looking at me.

"I'm Kakuzu, I don't think we've formally met, due to me being in the office the other day." He said, holding out his hand.

"Hi." I said, shaking his head.

"I've certainly heard a lot about you, sitting next to the fish." He said, nodding to Kisame next to him.

"Hey! It's shark. Get it right." Kisame said, looking at Kakuzu. Kakuzu rolled his eyes, I laughed and turned back around. The teacher then began class and I fell asleep, only to wake up to Pein poking me in the ribs with a pencil. After the bell rang I walked to my next class with Kisame and Pein.

We walked in to see the desks in a new arrangement. They were in groups of five. We saw Itachi and Deidara already at a table. And during that class Kisame kept making sarcastic comments which made the rest of the class laugh and the teacher scowl. After that me and Pein walked to Art room and sat down where we had yesterday.

Noki seemed to brighten up at the sight of us sitting down. She grinned and sat up a little straighter. Sasuke didn't seem to move beside her, just kind of sat there. Not even blinking. Creepy.

Anko then rushed into the room with a fluster of papers and a tired sigh. She then pulled out a paper and began to call out names but we weren't paying attention.

"Hi guys!" Noki said with a smile.

"Hi." I greeted back and Pein nodded back in response.

"Hey bitches. I've been fucking transferred!" Hidan announced, walking into the room with a grin on his face. I stifled a laugh and slapped a hand over my mouth so I wouldn't laugh. Pein laughed anyway, not caring what the teacher said. Hidan looked over at Pein and smirked. Noki just seemed to stare at him with wide eyes. Sasuke didn't even acknowledge him.

"Hidan, please refrain from cussing in my classroom. Just pull up a chair and sit over there." Anko said, pointing to our table. Hidan smirked again and grabbed a chair. He brought it over to our table and sat down. After that Anko said that it was a free period until lunch.

I took out my iPod and turned it to Buried Alive by Avenged Sevenfold. I kept it down low enough so that I could heard people around me. It was more like background music. Hidan continued to cuss and complain about things.

Noki started to draw in her notebook and Sasuke got up, talked up to the teacher and then left the room. Suddenly I felt hands clamp down on my shoulders. I looked up to see Itachi above me, smirking. I smiled back and he let go of my shoulders.

"Hey." Kisame said, coming up next to him.

"Pein, they're following us." I said, turning to him.

"I noticed." He said, smirking.

"So why are you guys here?" I asked.

"Well we're in the other art class, and out teacher said we could come over here, so here we are. I see Hidan is here as well." Kisame noted, nodding to him. Hidan smiled and flipped him off in response. I smirked.

"Ok, time for lunch, everyone." Anko said, standing at the door. All of the students started to leave, walking towards the Cafeteria, where we were all bombarded by more colorful posters.

"Jeez, I don't think they put up enough fucking posters." Hidan said, looking around the Cafeteria.

"No kidding." I replied, following them into the lunch line. Today, I grabbed an apple and what looked to be a turkey sandwich. We sat down at the same table we had, Noki sat with us next to me, and on the other side of me was Pein. I felt a sharp thud at my chair and an elbow in my back. I hissed and turned around.

"Oops. Sorry." Ino hissed. I glared at her, which caused her to walk away quickly.

"Bitch." I seethed when she had left. Sakura and Karin had trailed behind her, like lost little puppies, how pathetic.

"Who?" Pein asked, looking in their direction.

"All of them." I said, shaking my head.

"You got a point there." Itachi said. Kisame nodded in agreement.

"I don't know what makes them act like that." Sasori noted, looking down at his tray.

"Major Daddy issues?" Deidara said, and we all laughed. I suddenly remembered my dad, memories flooded back. I stopped laughing abruptly and stared at the table. My mind refused to let go and forgive my dad, I just couldn't do it. That's why I lived on my own, it's his fault. I don't care what he, or anybody says, he did it. It's done now. I can't change the past, no matter how hard I try, I can't.

"Hey, are you ok?" Pein asked quietly, gently touching my shoulder. The others had started a new conversation and hadn't heard him.

"Uh, y-yeah." I replied, my voice shaky. He was still looking at me, as though he didn't believe me. I smiled slightly, trying to look convincing. After that we dumped out trays and headed to our last class. When we walked into the gym, Kakashi said we had to change immediately and them come back out and stand in a line.

I saw a scale next to a meter stick that was taped to the wall. Height and weight day. I'd always been under weight as a child, I'm not anorexic or anything, but I have a high metabolism so I don't gain much weight, I haven't since middle school.

I walked into the girls' locker room and quickly changed. Noki and Pein were waiting at the end of a long line of students that had gathered by the scale. I stood between them.

"Ok everyone, take off your shoes please." Kakashi instructed, and everyone began to untie their shoes and throw them aside. I took mine off and layed them by the bleachers. The line got shorter and shorter until it was my turn. I stepped onto the scale and waited for the answer.

"96 lbs. A little under there, Naomi." Kakashi said, writing it down on a piece of paper. Both Noki and Pein had heard what Kakashi said, and were now staring at me.

"Under, huh?" Pein asked.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go get out height taken." I said, walking towards the wall with the meter stick.

"5' even." Kakashi said, writing that down as well. "You are a really little girl, aren't you?" He said, looking down at me. I shrugged and walked back to where my shoes were. I tied them and put them on. Kakashi said that everyone had to go run a lap so I headed outside.

I began to jog, passing Ino, Karin, and Sakura, who were basically walking they were going so slow. It was kind of cold outside, I wish I'd brought a jacket or something. It was October after all. I couldn't even see the sun through the thick dark clouds that covered the sky.

Maybe it would rain. I would love that. I absolutely love rain, I used to play tag with my friends in the rain till my body went numb, we would get soaked to the bone. But I didn't mind, I loved every minute of it.

"See her? Yeah she weighs 96 pounds, she's totally anorexic." I heard Ino hiss as I passed. I rolled my eyes and ignored it.

"Hey." Said Pein, coming up next to me. "Ino is a bitch. Don't listen to her, she's just jealous 'cause she weighs like 200 pounds." Pein said, smirking. I just laughed. After I finished my lap I walked inside and changed. I walked back out into the gym, where everyone was gathered, waiting for the bell to ring.

I saw Ino and her little group of wanna-be's looking at me and whispering. It took all of my patience and rationality not to go over there and slam her head into the bleachers._ 'Control yourself, Naomi. Don't go insane, don't go insane.'_ I thought.

"Hey Naomi, what's up?" Sasori asked, walking over.

"Oh nothing. Trying not to injure people. You?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing. Your day must be going much more interesting than mine is." He said, looking amused.

"Not really. Just Ino and the other bitches. I can't stand them." I said, grimacing.

"Nobody can." Kisame said, jumping into the conversation. I smirked.

"So Kisame, I hear you're going to be a fish for Halloween. So creative." I said, smiling.

"Yes, I am a fish. I was a shark last year. What are you going to be?" He asked.

"A wolf." I replied. I had decided last night that I was going to be a wolf this year.

"Cute." He said. I rolled my eyes and the bell rang, and everyone rushed toward the door. I hung back, not wanting to get crushed. After the majority of the people had left, I walked out the door, only to see Pein standing by the door.

"Hey, I was afraid you got crushed." He said, smirking.

"Nope. I don't suppose you have to worry about that though, with you being so damn tall." I said. I literally had to look up at him to see his face. We walked out of the school building and up the stairs to our dorm and everyone was sitting on the couch. I went to my room and set my bag down, placing it on the floor near my closet. I had left the door open and was now rearranging things in my room.

"Knock, knock." Deidara said, coming into my room. The rest of them filed in behind him, sitting on my bed and on the floor.

"We're gonna go to dinner in the Cafeteria tonight, you coming?" Sasori asked, smiling.

"Sure." I replied, sliding the closet doors closed. I followed them down the stairs and out the door into the school and to the Cafeteria. For dinner, they were serving some sort of mushy looking stuff. So I got some bread and some jelly and made a jelly sandwich. I don't like peanut butter. We all sat down at a table. I saw Noki walk in and I waved to her. She got her dinner and then came over to us and sat down.

"No peanut butter?" She asked, eyeing my sandwich.

"No. I don't like peanut butter." I said, taking a bite. She smirked and lifted a spoonful of cereal to her mouth.

"Cereal?" I asked. And she nodded. The rest of them had the weird mush that they had been serving.

"What _is_ this?" Deidara asked, poking it with his fork.

"How should I know?" Itachi said, doing the same.

"The menu says it's biscuits and gravy." I said, smirking.

"There is no way. This looks like baby food." Kisame said. I shrugged and continued to eat my sandwich. A lot of other people came into the lunch room and ate dinner as well. I saw Ino, Sakura, and Karin at a table with some other girls. I glared at them.

"What are you doing?" Pein asked. I didn't reply. He looked in the direction of my glaring and then laughed.

"Plotting murders?" Pein asked. And I nodded and looked away from them and smirked. I finished my sandwich and dumped my tray. The others dumped their tray and we all walked back to our room. I went to my room and resumed rearranging things. After I was done I grabbed the notebook out from under my pillow. I started to add detail to the drawing of my mom. Defining her face and her eyes. Then I colored her eyes that looked like mine. And then her hair. There was a knock on my door, I looked up and then shoved the notebook back under my pillow.

"Come in." I said.

"Hey." Noki said, coming into my room.

"Noki? Hi." I said, smiling.

"All the guys want to play truth or dare. Wanna play?" She asked, grinning.

"Nah." I replied.

"But you have to! Please?!" She said, tugging on my arm.

"Ehh." I whined.

"That's it. You're playing. Come on." She said, dragging me up.

"No! I don't want to!"

"Well, that sucks. Because you are." She said, pushing me out of my room. She proceeded to push me down the hallway and into the living room.

"But-!" I started to say.

"NO! Just sit down!" She said, plopping me down on the ground next to Pein. Then she sat down on my other side.

"Look Naomi's playing with us!" Kisame said, grinning.

"Shut up." I grumbled.

"I didn't want to play either." Pein whispered to me, patting my shoulder. I half-smiled.

"Ok, so who wants to go first?" Noki asked, looking around.

"Oh, me!" Kisame said, grinning.

"Ok, so the order is: Kisame, Itachi, Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Pein, Naomi, and then me." Noki said.

"Wait, wait! There are rules, right? Like no daring people to murder people, right?" I asked, a little scared.

"Of course. Nothing that could hurt someone's health or anything like that." Noki said. I sighed a little relieved.

"Ok, Itachi, Truth or Dare?" Kisame asked.

"Uh, dare I guess." He replied.

"Ok, you have to dance around with that broom over there." Kisame said, pointing to the broom on the other side of the room.

"Fine." Itachi said, sighing. None of us could suppress our laughter as he began to dance around the room with the broom. He sat back down and sighed again and I began to wonder why none of us video taped that.

"Alright, Sasori truth or dare?" Itachi asked.

"Truth." He replied.

"Ok, what's your secret obsession?" He asked.

"Puppets." He said quietly. That confused me a little but I shrugged it off.

"Naomi." Sasori said, getting my attention.

"Truth or Dare?" He asked.

"Dare." I said without thinking, and then mentally slapped myself.

"Wait-!" I started to say.

"Nope, you already picked dare." Kisame said, grinning.

"Fine." I replied.

"Ok, I dare you to spend the rest of the game in Pein's lap." Sasori said, smiling evilly.

"But-!" I started to protest.

"Oh shut up. I had to dance around with a broom." Itachi complained, frowning. I sighed and scooted over in front of Pein. He reached over, picked me up and set me in his lap. I blushed slightly and looked at the ground.

"Ok, Hidan. Truth or Dare?" Deidara asked.

"Dare." He said.

"Ok, I dare you to sing to the toilet." Deidara replied, smirking. I chuckled a couple times at the thought of Hidan singing to a toilet.

"Somebody get a video camera." I whispered to Pein. He smiled and laughed. Then we all followed Hidan to the bathroom and he began to sing a random song to the toilet. We all started laughing as he continued to sing to the toilet when he was done, Kisame and Itachi were laughing so much they were crying and then gave Deidara a high-five. We all walked back out into the living room and sat down again.

"You're really light." Pein said. I shrugged and blushed again.

"Hmmm, who to torment? Oh, I know. Fish boy." Hidan said, grinning. Kisame's eyes widened and he looked scared. I would be, too.

"Kisame, Truth or Dare?" Hidan asked evilly, still grinning.

"D-dare." Kisame said, still looking scared.

"It's not that bad. I dare you to snort a line of sugar." Hidan said, grinning.

"Shit. Fine, everyone into the kitchen." Kisame said, standing up. We all followed him to the kitchen and Kisame pulled out the bag of sugar from the cupboard and poured some onto the counter. He made it into a line and then pulled a straw out of a drawer. He then proceeded to snort the sugar without a second thought. We all laughed as he drew back quickly, rubbing his nose and coughing. After that we all sat back down again. It was Kakuzu's turn.

"Naomi." Kakuzu said. "Truth or Dare?" He asked.

"Truth." I replied, not wanting to go through another dare. I was still sitting in Pein's lap.

"Ok. How many piercings do you have?" He asked. I wasn't expecting that. I counted in my head before replying.

"11." I said.

"Really?" Itachi asked. And I nodded.

"I have one on each of my hips, three on each of my ribs, and the rest are on my face." I said.

"Shouldn't that be 10?" Deidara asked. I shook my head no.

"No. My tounge is pierced, see?" I said, sticking out my tounge. They nodded.

"Deidara. Truth or Dare?" Pein asked.

"Truth." He said.

"Hm, have you ever punched someone?" He asked.

"Not funny." I whispered, smirking.

"Yeah." Deidara replied, smiling.

"Who?" Itachi asked and Deidara nodded to Sasori, who was scowling.

"Sasori. Truth or Dare?" I asked, grinning.

"Dare." He replied, smiling back.

"Ok, you have to do 50 sit-ups." I said smirking. He layed down and did 50 sit-ups and then rolled over, clutching his stomach and groaning. I smirked.

"Hidan. Truth or Dare?" Noki asked, grinning evilly.

"Dare, of course." He replied.

"Ok, you have to wear a toilet paper turban." Noki replied. I chuckled quietly.

"Fine." He said. He got up and walked into the bathroom, a few minutes later he came out, toilet paper piled high atop his head. Everyone just stared at him for a minute, and then burst out laughing. Noki took out her cell phone and snapped a picture of him, still laughing.

"Ok, can we stop playing Truth or Dare now?" I asked.

"Fine. I need to get back to my dorm anyway." Noki said, standing up.

"Ok, see you tomorrow." I said. She waved and left, leaving the 8 of us in the room.

"You two would make a cute couple." Itachi said as I was sliding out of Pein's lap.

"What?" We both said at the same time.

"You're right. They would." Kisame said, nodding.

"What? Don't agree with him!" I protested.

"Yeah! You two should totally go out!" Deidara suggested.

"No! We're just friends!" I said.

"If we dated, it would make things weird." Pein said.

"Exactly." I agreed.

"Fine. I was only trying to help. Pein hasn't had a girlfriend in forever." Itachi said. Pein rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to bed." I said, walking towards my room. I shut the door behind me, climbed in bed and fell asleep.

Pein's POV:

"Good going guys." I said after Naomi left.

"We know you like her." Itachi said, smirking.

"Shut up. I do not. Even if I did, you heard what she said. She doesn't want to make things weird between us, and neither do I." I said.

"You can't deny she's hot, ok." Kisame said, smirking.

"I'm not saying that she's not. What I'm saying is, I don't have shot." I said.

"Of course you do. You saw the way she blushed. She totally likes you, not to mention the fact that you two are like, perfect for eachother." Itachi said, smiling. "You should try." He said.

"Um, no. Because then she will know that I like her. And that ruins everything. Thank you for your advice, Dr. Itachi, but now I am going to bed." I said, I got up and left. But I didn't fall asleep, I lay awake for hours, debating what I should do.


	3. The Dance

**A/N: Sorry, this chapter is suuper long. Also a few side notes:**

**BOLD = Changing POV**

_Italic – Thought/Flashback_

Ok, here's Chapter 3! C:

_~Aiko_

The rest of the week had passed pretty uneventfully without us getting into too much trouble. It was pretty much the same. Except for the food fight on Thursday. Hidan had started it, to no nobody's surprise. There was also the 'gluing lockers shut' incident, also caused by Hidan. Thankfully, he hadn't gotten to my locker. But to about 1500 other freshman, it was a little hard to open their lockers. But today I woke up on October 31st, Halloween, without being expelled. Today everybody had to dress up, it was mandatory or you got a severe punishment. I had considered not dressing up and seeing what would happen but then decided against it, I didn't want to go back home. I had decided to be a wolf this Halloween. A lot of past Halloweens I had been a cat, a bat, a pumpkin, a piece of candy, and a witch. But the cat costume was always my favorite. But this year I had found a new costume I liked. But I had to get contacts for it, which was a pain in the ass. You had to get your eyes measure and all that.

I woke up to my normal alarm clock, it sounded like it was angry. In fact, it kind of looked angry. The red numbers blinked, along with the loud beeping sound that it made. It sort of looked like a malfunctioned toaster with numbers on it. I pressed the button on the top to shut it off and stood up. I walked over to my closet and pulled out a dark blue long sleeved shirt, the whole back and shoulders of the shirt was made of black lace and had flower patterns in the lace. The blue part of the shirt was made out of soft fabric that hung nicely. I then pulled out some black jean shorts and changed into them. I made sure to grab my cell phone and set it to vibrate just in case it decided to ring in class. I didn't feel like getting a lecture about how teens used their phones too much. Plus, I didn't have any good ringtones to play anyways. They were all stupid doorbell-type rings that sounded ridiculous and were so annoying it made you want to commit suicide whenever somebody called you.

I walked into the bathroom and straightened my hair and placed gray ears on top of my head. They had white tuffs inside the gray part and a tiny bit of black on the tips. I pulled out my eyeliner and lined my eyes. Then I put in some ice blue contacts to add to my costume. After that I drew a dog nose on my nose and then left the bathroom, making sure to unplug the hair straightener before I left. Then I walked back into my room and put on my rainbow high-tops, lacing them tightly. I had recently put new shoe laces in them because my other ones were old and were starting to rip. I had replaced my old black ones with day-glow green ones. This made the rainbow stand out a bit more. I started heading for the door when I noticed I had forgotten my tail. I grabbed a fake tail I had made and clipped it on to my belt loop. The tail had black and gray stripes on it, and the very tip of it was red. I walked out into the kitchen where everyone was sitting at the table dressed up. Lots of the costumes were weird and looked like they hadn't put much effort into them.

Itachi was dressed up like a penguin. He had a fake yellow beak on his face and was wearing scuba flippers on his feet instead of shoes. Kisame had placed a fin atop his head and had another fin on his back. Pein was wearing a white shirt, with red blood splatters and rips on it. He was also carrying a pair of scissors which were splotched with blood as well. Sasori was sitting on the couch. He had a red clown nose, which is pretty self-explanatory. Deidara had puffed his hair out and had drawn a nose on his face as well. He said that he was a lion. Hidan was dressed pretty normally but he carried around a three-bladed scythe that scared everyone. Most people fled when they saw it. I had to walk about five feet away from him to not get hit by the scythe. Most of it was red with a little bit of white and black and a rope attached to the bottom.

I walked over to the freezer and pulled out the pack of pancakes. But instead of putting them in the microwave, I just stuck them in the toaster I didn't want to wait 3 minutes for them to cook in the microwave. I pushed down the knobs on the toaster and turned around to put the package back in the fridge. It looked like everyone else had chosen cereal of toast for breakfast this morning. I turned back around to find everybody staring at me. They probably found it weird that I was in shorts. After all, I hadn't worn shorts around them before.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, Nothing. I think we're just all in shock about how nice you look today." Itachi said, smiling at me.

"Um, is that a compliment?" I asked, smirking.

"Yes. Yes, it is." Deidara said from the couch in the living room. I rolled my eyes and looked in the fridge for a drink.

"Pancakes?" Kisame asked when I had brought out a jug of apple juice.

"Yes." I replied, pouring some into a cup and trying not to spill.

"In the toaster?" Pein asked, and I nodded in response, sipping from my cup.

"Of course, where else would they go?" I asked.

"Um, the microwave?" Pein said, smirking.

"Well, microwaves take forever. It's much easier to put them in the toaster. It's funny. This morning my alarm clock looked like a malfunctioned toaster." I replied, smirking. Pein nodded. Itachi just looked at me like I was crazy.

The toaster popped up and I pulled a plate out of the cupboard and put them on it. I tried to reach up into a cupboard to get the syrup but I couldn't reach it. I stood up on my tip-toes and still couldn't reach it. I grunted with effort, still reaching upwards. I was about to climb up on the counter and get it. That's what I always did when I was a little kid and couldn't reach things. I even had to use a stool to brush my teeth in the morning when I was little.

"Need some help?" Pein asked, standing up.

"Maybe. I'm too short to reach the syrup." I replied. He chuckled and reached up into the cupboard with ease and brought out the syrup and then handed it to me.

"Thanks." I said.

"No problem." He replied, sitting down again. I opened the syrup bottle and poured it all over the pancakes, drowning them in a lake of syrup. I took out a fork and sat down at the table next to Pein. I started to cut the pancakes but had trouble. I had never been able to cut pancakes easily.

"So, what's with the scissors?" I asked, nodding to his blood splattered scissors on the table next to him.

"Oh. It's my murder weapon." He replied, smiling.

"Why don't you use a knife?" I asked, smirking.

"Because knives are too common. It makes me seem more insane and crazy this way." He replied, holding them up. I nodded and finished my pancakes. I washed off the plate in the sink and placed it in the dishwasher. I walked back into my room to get my backpack and slung it over my head to rest on my shoulder like usual. I made sure to grab my iPod on the way out just in case. I walked into the living room. Everybody was gathering things that they would need for school today. I waited by the door for all of them to gather their things. I noticed that Itachi was waddling around instead of walking. After that we opened the door and were astonished by what we saw. When the teachers told us to expect directions, we didn't know it would be like this.

Clearly Halloween was a huge deal at this school because they had made the walls a dark green and put up black spider web like string up on the walls. There was also some red fog that filled the hallway. Instead of a regular light bulb, on the ceiling there was a black lantern that had an eerie dark purple light in it. There was a rug that had been placed on the floor that was red and had thick, black swirls on it. There were pumpkins by each of the dorm room doors that had faces and words carved into them. It was a little hard to see because of the red fog. It was amazing how much decorating could be done with no one knowing it. We walked out of the hallway and were bombarded with even more decorations. This was just the hallways; the dance isn't even until 6.

On the stairs there was black and purple streamers wrapped around the railing. There were also white spider web decorations in the corners of the ceiling and on the walls. There were also fake blood splatters and pictures of pumpkins and bats and witches. There was a grim reaper wall cling on the door of the complex, along with a strobe light and some fog that filled the room. On the windows were window clings of bats and animal eyes. We opened the door and lots of fog spilled out into the cool October morning. On our way to the school we saw students dressed up as various things. Clowns, bats, a candy cane, and lots of other costumes those of which were quite interesting. They had also put up fake tombstones up on the school grass in front of the school and put a scarecrow near the front door. We made our way through the school, finding even more decorations like more pumpkins and other various decorations. When we got to the Cafeteria, it didn't even look like a Cafeteria. The walls were a dark maroon color with black splotches on it.

There were spider webs and faces in the black splotches on the wall. There was also a fog machine and spurted out green fog and made it a little hard to see. And on top of that there was a strobe light that also made screeching noises and screams of terror when you pressed the button on the side. I got a muffin that had a face on it in chocolate chips on it and walked to a table where all the others were sitting. All of the tables had bowls of candy on them that rested on spider web table cloth material. Noki was sitting there, dressed in a frilly dress that had a white apron on the front. The apron had an upside-down black spade on it and she was carrying a knife that was splotched with blood. When I asked her what she was she said she was her own version of the Queen of Hearts.

I sat down next to Pein, who was looking at something like he was grossed out. I looked over to where he was and he was looking at Ino. She was dressed in a black dress that had a huge triangle cut out of the chest and a short skirt. The thing was way too tight and she looked like a ham stuffed into some leather. Everyone in her little group was dressed the same, except it fit a few others better. I almost gagged and Noki looked over and then looked away, laughing. Itachi looked over as well and then quickly looked back, also looking grossed out. Deidara didn't look, knowing he would regret it.

"What are they dressed as? Sluts?" I said, grimacing. Noki nodded.

"Pretty good costumes, don't ya think?" Noki asked, still laughing very loudly.

"Oh look, Karin. It's the big bad wolf. That's an amazing mask, I would ask you to take it off but you can't." Ino said as she walked by and cackled. I rolled my eyes and ignored her. At least I didn't look like a whore. But Pein decided to speak up.

"Why don't you shut the hell up and get out of here, you slut." Pein said, turning around and glaring at her. Itachi, Kisame, and Deidara erupted into a large yell of Oooooh's.

"Yeah, seriously. Get out of here; you're melting my eyes with ugliness." Noki said turning around. Ino rolled her eyes and stalked away, her little group following her.

"Thanks, guys. You didn't have to do that." I said, smiling.

"It's no big deal. I'm tired of them treating you like that." He said, smiling back at me. I smiled back and looked down at my tray. I hadn't really realized what had been on my tray until now. There was a burnt waffle with a Jack – O - lantern face on it and a bat-shaped cookie. It seemed everything was Halloween-themed today. I picked up the bat shaped cookie and began to nibble on it, deciding it was edible.

"Yeah. Somebody had to tell her how bad she looked. Guess it had to be me, oh well." Noki said, grinning.

"What's their problem anyway?" Deidara asked, looking at me.

"I don't know. They've hated me ever since I enrolled here." I replied, shrugging.

"Maybe they finally realized that they are ugly, and you're pretty. And they torment you because they're jealous." Kisame said, smirking.

"Whatever." I said quietly.

"I'm not kidding!" Kisame insisted, slamming his fists down on the table.

"You shouldn't be kidding." Pein agreed quietly.

"Well, they _are _ugly." I heard Noki say.

"Nope. It's all lies." I replied.

"They're not lying. I should know, I am all-knowing." Itachi said, smirking.

"Yes, Itachi, the all-knowing penguin." Sasori said, smirking. Itachi stuck his tongue out at Sasori.

"Ok, whatever. But they're not jealous of me." I said, smirking and stealing Pein's cookie off his tray.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah. Lots of girls are." Deidara said, nodding. Pein looked down at his tray, as if just noticing that his cookie was gone.

"What? Like Who?" I asked, shocked. His cookie was still in my hand, unbitten.

"Her, for one." Itachi said, nodding to a green haired girl across the Cafeteria from us. "She wishes she had eyes like yours." He said.

"Why would she want eyes like mine?" I asked, mostly talking to myself. Most people thought my eyes were weird and she probably didn't know that they changed according to my mood, most people didn't.

"Normally one the first things people look at is your eyes. And yours are really cool." Itachi said.

"Yeah, they're really pretty. They actually look a lot different today, Naomi." Kisame said, looking at me.

"Well, yeah. I'm wearing contacts today." I said. I had put blue contacts in to add to my costume.

"No, they look sort of um, I don't know, greenish. Weird, last time I thought they had blue in them." Kisame added, still looking at me. Green. That meant uneasy.

"They do have blue in them. I know that much." Pein said. And this of course caused Pein and Itachi to lean over and stare intently at my eyes.

"He's right. They're definitely green today." Pein said, leaning back. I shrugged and looked down. I took a bite out of his cookie and continued to look down at my tray.

"Candy!" I heard someone yell. I looked up just in time to see Hidan practically fall into a chair across from me and grab the bowl of candy in the middle of the table. This of course didn't surprise anybody. He started to rifle through it, picking out what was worth eating and what wasn't. He had leaned the scythe into an extra chair next to him. Noki reached over and stole a Kit-Kat from his pile of candy but he didn't seem to notice, or didn't care. She unwrapped it and shoved it in her mouth, it made crunching sounds and she ate it. I smiled and laughed. This was why Halloween was my favorite holiday. There was so much fun that happened. The bell rang and Hidan set the bowl down again. It was nearly empty except for a few rejected candies at the bottom. Hidan started shoving candy into his pockets and into his backpack, dropping a few pieces on the ground in the process.

I picked up a roll of Smarties off the table and shoved them in my pocket. I would eat them later in class. I walked to my locker. Some girl that I knew vaguely had come up to me and was babbling about the dance or something. Honestly, I really wasn't paying attention to what she was saying and didn't really care. I arrived at my locker and flipped around the lock. Pein's locker was next to mine and some other random guy's on the other side. The guy had introduced himself to me a while ago, but I couldn't remember his name. The guy was in some of my classes, but I hadn't really noticed him that much. He didn't talk much and didn't seem to have a lot of friends.

My locker opened and I shoved my backpack inside and then picked up the binder I would need. I closed the locker and followed Pein to math class. All over the walls there were decorations. There were spider-webs, pumpkins, bats, witches, goblins, and ghosts everywhere. On the ceiling bats and pieces of candy hung from strings attached to the ceiling panels. Hidan reached up onto the ceiling occasionally and stole pieces of candy from the panels. When we arrived at math class, we were shocked to find our teacher dressed in a full-body unicorn costume. The horn on the top was covered in sequins and had different colored ribbons coming out of the top, and the horse part was blue with purple polka dots. I sighed and found my way to my seat next to Pein, trying not to laugh. On the board in big, block letters it said 'Halloween' Apparently we wouldn't be learning math today.

"Well, no shit. We know that it's Halloween." Pein said, smirking. I smirked back. Suddenly my phone vibrated in my pocket, making me jump and make a small squeaking noise. Pein looked over at me with wide eyes. The teacher turned around and looked at me with the same wide-eyed expression Pein had. I smiled nervously at the teacher and she turned back around to the board. I pulled out my phone and looked at it under the desk. It read 'James' my eyes widened. James was my ex-boyfriend. He hadn't been much of a bother lately, but before had texted me nearly every day, wanting me to get back together with him. It was still a no. I peeked at the message under the desk. It read:

"Hey, Darling, I miss you. Please just talk to me about what happened.  
I'm so sorry I hurt you. Please, please take me back.  
I still love you and always have. Please reply back. ~James."

I put the phone back in my pocket with a sigh. I was not going to reply. I was hoping Pein hadn't seen the message. He didn't say anything so I guessed he didn't see it. Pein was in my next class, too. Actually, he was in all of my classes. Itachi was in quite a few of them as well. Now we were in Social Studies with Deidara, Sasori, Itachi, and Hidan. The teacher had made the mistake of putting us all at a table together. Before class started I pulled out the roll of Smarties and unwrapped them. The wrapper's crinkling noise caused Deidara to look over at me curiously.

"What are you doing?" Deidara asked, looking at me weird.

"She's doing drugs, Deidara. What does it look like?" Hidan said, grinning. I rolled my eyes and flicked a Smartie at him. When I had finished the roll of Smarties I got up to throw the wrapper away. Hidan stuck his foot out and tried to trip me, but I saw it.

"Nice try, idiot." I said, stepping over it. The teacher didn't pay attention in that class obviously. She just sat at a desk, reading most of the time while we all were idiots and didn't learn anything. She really should be teaching us things instead of just sitting there but none of us ever said anything. We didn't feel like getting a lecture about why she was so busy and how much she wishes she could just retire already. After being stupid in Social Studies like we always were, me and Pein walked to Art, which was all the way across the school. We walked in as soon as the bell rang and sat down at the table where we had the past week. Noki was sitting there, looking bored. Hidan looked like he was talking to Noki, but she clearly wasn't paying attention. She set her knife on the table which caused Hidan to stop talking and Sasuke looked over at her. I smirked, knowing that her knife covered in blood must be creepy to people.

"What is the point of carrying that around anyway?" He asked. This was only the second time I had ever heard Sasuke talk.

"Because I can. And if freaks people out, why else?" She said back, grinning. I chuckled and smiled. I noticed Ino glaring at me, probably remembering what happened this morning. I smiled sweetly at her and waved. She rolled her eyes and looked away. Pein looked at me and laughed. Hidan looked over at her and flipped her off. I was so happy I had friends like this. I pulled my iPod out of my pocket and turned it on, sticking the ear buds in my ears, blocking out all the noise of art class. I turned it to one of my favorite songs and started drawing in my notebook.

"_I'll tell you one last time, I don't wanna know when it's over, so save your goodbye kiss. I don't wanna know when it's over,__ 'cause ignorance is bliss. I can hardly see what's in front of me 'cause the Vodka's running on empty. I can't stay sober, if it's over." _The music blared loudly but was interrupted when Pein pulled the ear buds out of my ears and I jumped as Anko entered the room.

As usual, Anko was late getting into the classroom, so when she walked into the room it was already time for lunch. But none of us really cared. Lunch was my favorite part of the day. Lots of students coughed on entering the fog-filled Cafeteria and we were all bombarded by the decorations and people failing to scare us on the way to the lunch line.

"So, Naomi what was that about in math class?" Pein asked as I sat down next to him at the table. I winced, not wanting to talk about it.

"What happened?" Itachi asked, looking confused.

"Nothing happened. I just got a text from somebody." I replied, shrugging and wanting to change the subject.

"Ooooh, from who?" Kisame asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Nobody. It's not important." I replied sharply, looking down.

"'Course it is. Naomi you can tell us anything, you know that." Itachi said, looking worried.

"I know I can. And I completely trust all of you, but this is nothing to worry about, trust me." I said, smiling.

"Ok, if it's nothing to worry about and not important, why don't you tell us who that text is from?" Deidara asked nodding to my phone.

"Alright, fine. It's from this guy James." I said, sighing.

"And who is this James?" Kisame asked, raising his eyebrows again.

"My ex." I replied, looking down at my hands in my lap.

"Oh. And what does the text say?" Itachi asked. I sighed and passed my phone over the table so they could see, I didn't want to read it out loud. They spent the next five minutes passing my phone around the table so everyone could read the text he had sent me. When Pein read the text, his eyes narrowed and he handed the phone to me.

"I hate people like that." Pein said.

"Me too." I replied, nodding. "It's totally annoying." Itachi and Kisame nodded.

"How long has he been doing this?" Deidara asked.

"Since we broke up." I replied. "I've tried changing my phone number and everything. Nothing works." I said. I ran a hand through my hair, sighing. I started deleting the messages from him. I looked up as Kisame looked over at Itachi, his eyebrows raised. Itachi raised his eyebrows back and then they both turned to look at me.

"What?" I asked, scared. I hated it when they got ideas.

"I bet a visit from your seven scary male roommates and very scary female friend should do the trick." Itachi replied, grinning.

"Excellent idea." Sasori commented.

"_Very _excellent idea." Noki said, grinning.

"Guys, I don't think that's a good idea." I said, looking at my untouched food.

"Why? Even if the guy is tough, there's eight of us, and one of him." Itachi said, confident.

"No, it just seems like a bad idea." I said, staring at the apple on my tray.

"Listen, we just want to keep you safe." Pein said, resting a hand on my shoulder.

"I know. And it's great to know you guys care that much about me, but how would you even talk to him." I said.

"Well then invite him to the dance." Itachi said.

"That could be a good way to draw him in. Let him think you're interested, and then we'll scare him." Noki said, grinning evilly.

"No. This is a stupid idea. Let's see if he stops. If not, you can scare him, if he does, don't get involved." I said. Pein's hand still rested on my shoulder.

"Ok, fine." Deidara said, frowning.

"Thanks for looking out for me guys, but I think I'll be ok. I'll let you know if I have problems." I said, smiling. "Ok?" They all nodded and we went through the sequence of dumping trays and stacking them, then making one person take them and put them by the tray washer. Almost all the time, we made Itachi take the trays because the rest of us were far too lazy to do it and you would get yelled at by teachers if you didn't take them before the bell rang. We knew this from experience. When the bell rang we all started to walk back to our classes. When we got back to art, the teacher said we all had to draw our own pumpkin and it could look like anything. Hidan drew a pumpkin that had a three-bladed scythe on it. I drew a pumpkin that had a cat face on it. I wrote my name at the top and then put it in the baskets where the assignments go. After that I took out my iPod again and started to listen to music again. I turned to my favorite song and turned it up all the way.

"_In the end, as you fade into the night, who will tell the story of your life? And who will remember your last goodbye? 'Cause it's the end and I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid to die." _The music could probably be heard from about 10 feet away out of my ear buds. But it was again interrupted when Pein pulled one of them out of my ear and said:

"Class is over. You're gonna go deaf with how you listen to music." He smirked. I smiled back and stood up, gathering my things and walking out of the door and heading towards P.E. When he got there, there were the regular groups of people talking. It was always really loud when class first started and then Kakashi would come in and tell us all to shut up. Kakashi was probably my favorite teacher. Maybe because he didn't like Ino and glared at her every time she spoke, or maybe because he was cool. But it was probably the Ino thing. As predicted, Kakashi came in and told us all to shut up and sit down while he took attendance. Pein, Sasori, Hidan, Noki, Kisame, Itachi, and I sat down in a circle while Kakashi got out a folder and began to take attendance. I noticed Ino and her little group sitting and talking as well. They, of course, were looking over at our group, whispering and pointing. I rolled my eyes and looked away. Hidan leaned over and flipped her off, causing Noki to laugh. I smirked too. I noticed the green haired girl from earlier today walk by and sit with a group of girls after glancing at me and then down at her feet. I hadn't ever noticed her before. Which was kind of weird, she _did _have green hair, that's a little hard to miss.

"I wonder what we're doing today." Sasori commented, looking around the room. There was a ghost plushy that was hanging from the ceiling on a rope and there was dodge balls lined up along each side of the gym. I guessed we were going to try and hit the ghost. After Kakashi got attendance done, he told us to go change and then run a lap around the track outside. All of us headed outside, falling into the places we belonged. Ino, Karin, Sakura and those sorts fell to the bottom, walking and barely ever jogging. Then there were the people that actually jogged the lap and made it back just before the top people who actually ran the lap. Running the lap wasn't much of a problem, and I would have loved to be outside if it hadn't been so cold. I finished the lap along with the rest of the people that ran and then went inside. I couldn't wait to get out of this cold air and into the heated gym. When I was done I walked back inside with Pein where we found the others already there. After everybody finished their lap and came inside, Kakashi told us we had to hit the ghost on the ceiling with the dodge balls as predicted. But instead of hitting the ghost, I decided to aim for something else. My dodge ball flew right at Ino, hitting her right in the stomach. She bent over, the breath knocked out of her. I quickly turned around, stifling my laughter and grinning. Soon after, Kakashi instructed us to go change and then wait in the gym for the bell to ring. After I changed, I walked back out into the gym and leaned back against the bleachers, closing my eyes. I stood there for a minute before I felt something press my shoulders back into the bleachers. I opened my eyes to see Pein, holding me against the bleachers.

"Hi." He said, smirking.

"Hi." I replied back, smiling.

"Your eyes really do look pretty today." He said, leaning a bit closer. I pressed my head back against the bleachers, moving away from him slightly. I really did like Pein, but I didn't want to make our friendship weird. The bell rang and he let go of my shoulders, grabbed my hand, and started towing me towards the door. We walked back towards the dorm since the dance wasn't till six and there was no point in staying at the school for three more hours. My phone vibrated in my pocket, it was a text form James:

"Hey Naomi. Please take me back. I still love you, babe.  
I always have. I want you back. ~James"

"James?" Pein asked, looking at me. I nodded and replied back.

"James, get over me. I don't love you anymore.  
You shouldn't have hurt me the way you did.  
Leave me alone and stop texting me. ~Naomi"

He didn't reply back and for that I was relieved. We walked up the stairs to our dorm and found everyone inside but Noki on the floor in the living room. I wondered where she was.

"You're home!" Kisame said enthusiastically.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Why do you automatically think I did something?" He asked, looking offended.

"Because you never say that when we come home. And you sound over-excited." Pein replied, smirking.

"How are you not excited?! The dance is tonight!" Kisame said, grinning.

"I am simply, not excited. I'm not really a dance person. The only reason I'm going is because you guys are. I never went to one in middle school, either." I said.

"Really?" Itachi asked. I nodded.

"So, what are we going to do until six?" Sasori asked. Itachi shrugged and Kisame was trying to think of something.

"Yeah, you guys have fun. I'm going to go to my room." I said, and walked away. When I got there I sat on my bed. There was something off, I could feel it. Something wasn't right about going to the dance. But I didn't know what.

**Pein's POV  
_**

"So, Pein, are you going to ask Naomi to dance?" Itachi asked, eyebrows raised.

"No. Why would I?" I asked, confused.

"Because you like her, and we all know it." Deidara said, smirking.

"Well, you can't blame him. She's hot. And she's looking especially nice today." Kisame said, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes and ignored them. I walked into the kitchen to look for something to drink. I opened the fridge and didn't find anything so I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and walked back out into the living room.

"But, Pein, seriously. I've seen other guys look at her, you are not the only one who has taken a liking to her." Kisame said.

"And? I seriously doubt that she feels the same way about any of them." I said. I wasn't going to hurry and ask her out just because other guys liked her. The chance of her dating any of them is very slim.

"That's true. But are you blind or something?" Kisame asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Seriously? Wow, ok. She likes you. It's totally obvious. It's also very obvious that you want to kill that ex-boyfriend of hers." Itachi said, smirking.

"Ok, I admit that. He has sent her other messages. I've seen them. The guy is a total jerk." I said.

"I know. I can tell. I wonder what he did to hurt her . . . " Itachi said, trailing off. I wondered that same thing when I saw the text in math class. When I had asked her about it, I had expected her to explain what he had done to her. But, nobody had asked her what happened.

"I don't know. It's something. And I'm gonna go find out what." I said, turning and walking towards her room.

"Ask her out!" Kisame yelled as I left. I rolled my eyes. That wasn't going to happen. I knocked on her door but didn't get a reply. I knocked once more, a little harder this time. After a minute or so, I opened the door a little bit and peeked inside. I smiled when I saw her. She was sitting on the bed, ear buds in her ears and drawing in a notebook. No wonder she didn't hear me.

**Naomi's POV**  
**_**

I had walked into my room and sat on my bed. I pulled out my iPod and started to listen to music, turning it all the way up.

"_You're__ making me insane, all I can say is; I tear my heart open, I sew myself shut. My weakness is that I care too much. And my scars remind us, that the past is real. I tear my heart open, just to feel." _This was another one of my favorite songs. I pulled out my notebook and started sketching. I made random swirls around the corners of the paper leading to the middle where it all connected into a big flower. I heard something unusual, but I thought it was the music. I looked up to check the clock on the wall to see Pein. I jumped and my breathing quickened as I pulled out my ear buds.

"Holy shit! You scared me!" I said, breathing hard.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He said.

"It's ok. I couldn't hear you, I was listening to music." I said, smirking and nodding to my ear buds.

"I see that. As I said before, you're gonna go deaf." He replied, smiling.

"Maybe. Was there something you needed?" I asked.

"I just wanted to ask you something." He said, looking down.

"What is it?" I asked, confused.

"You know when you got that text from James today? Well, he said he was sorry he hurt you, but what did he do to hurt you?" Pein asked, looking at me. I hadn't wanted anybody to ask this. It was the one question I dreaded answering, and I had been grateful when nobody asked at lunch. I sighed and put away my notebook, looking down.

"Um . . . Well, when we were dating, he was really nice at first and he was a great boyfriend. But then something changed." I said, still looking down. Painful memories flooded back and tears started to fill my eyes. I looked down even more, my hair covering my eyes now. Pein reached over and put his hand on my shoulder.

"He started abusing me. Hitting me and pushing me into walls, that sort of thing." I said my voice breaking. I sniffled a little. Tears now flowed down my cheeks and dripped down onto my arms, making little wet dots on my forearms.

"There was verbal abuse, too. He hurt me both emotionally and physically." I said, now shaking.

"Why didn't you leave him?" Pein asked his voice soft.

"I was afraid that if he found me, he would hurt me more than ever before. I was afraid it would be worse." My voice cracked multiple times, signaling I was crying. I rubbed my eyes like a small child and blinked, trying to make my vision less blurry.

**FLASHBACK!**

_James pushed me against a wall. My head hit the wall with a loud crack. I fell to the ground, holding my head and trembling with fear. I whimpered at the severe pain in my head, there was a growing pain in the left side of my head where I had hit the wall. My breath was shaky and I started to cry, still holding my head. Why did he do this to me? I hadn't done anything wrong. He enjoyed having control over me, wanted me to suffer so he could feel superior in every way._

"_That's what you get when you're being stupid." He said, and left. I heard the door slam behind him as he left. I would have to walk home now. I couldn't call any of my friends, they would wonder why I was here, and I couldn't tell them what he was doing to me. Who knew what he would do then. It would be worse. I tried to stand but then ended up dropping to the floor on my knees, shuddering. I certainly couldn't call my mom, she could care less why I was here, and she was too busy 'working' to help me. Not to mention it was freezing cold outside as well. I stood and started to walk towards the door. I took little steps, if I wasn't careful I could collapse again. I looked back at the wall where my head had collided with the plaster. There was a dent and a splatter of blood. I sighed and touched my head. A spot of blood was on my hand. My head was bleeding from the collision with the wall. I still shook as I walked. I groaned and touched my ribs. They were bruised badly and almost purple. This would take weeks to heal, and they weren't going to heal at all with the way he was treating me. I really should just leave. "But I can't." I told myself in my head. I could try to disappear of the face of the Earth, but is wouldn't work. Why was my life like this? Oh, right. Because I can't stand up for myself. But if I did, who knew what he would do. It's better like this, I told myself. I walked out of the door and into the chilly air outside. It was mid-November and really cold. I could see my breath in front of my face when I sighed. I still took shaky steps, shuddering more with each step. I shoved my hands in the pockets of my thin hoodie. My ribs and head ached. I groaned again as I approached the front door to my house, there was yelling from the inside. Mom and dad were fighting again. But I didn't know how bad the fight had been till I walked in the door._

**End of Flashback!**

I snapped back to reality, practically sobbing now. I shuddered, remembering that horrible day. I felt Pein's arms suddenly wrap around me, hugging me close to him.

"Pein . . . "I said, my voice cracking again.

"It's ok. I know what he did. I would never do that to you, you know that." Pein said, resting his chin on top of my head. I sniffled and pulled myself closer to him. I didn't know how I had survived those times in my life, but I had. But I wasn't alone now; I had great friends that really, truly cared about me. My crying soon subsided, and I stopped shuddering and shaking. I sniffled once more and pulled back from Pein a little. He was extremely warm compared to me, but this was probably getting awkward for him.

"Are you ok?" He asked, pulling back and looking at me. I nodded and half-smiled. "I don't know how, but I saw that flashback. I know what you went through, why you couldn't leave, and how you were alone." Pein said, still looking at me. He still held me pretty close, holding my shoulders as if he didn't want me to pull back. "It must have been terrible." He said, pulling me close again.

"It was." I said, my voice had returned to normal. I leaned against Pein, feeling his warmness break through my solid ice temperature. He let go of me and leaned back, looking at me. I rubbed my eyes again and smirked at him.

"So, do you still want to go to the dance?" He asked. "Because if you don't want to go, I'll stay here in the dorm with you." He said, smiling.

"No. We should go. We can make fun of the people who dance like whores. It'll be fun." I said, smiling back.

"We better go get with the others then. It's 5:47 right now." He said, looking at the clock above my door.

"Ok. I just need to fix my face." I said, getting up and walking into the bathroom. I pulled out my eyeliner and mascara and re-did it because most of it had come off when I was crying.

"You don't need that, you know." Pein said, walking into the bathroom.

"No, I do." I said, shaking my head. I brought out my hair brush and ran it through my hair. Having long hair was kind of annoying but it took forever to grow, so there was no way in hell I was going to cut it now.

"Nah. I bet you're prettier without it." He said, smiling at me.

"Are you saying I look pretty with it on?" I asked, smirking.

"Well, I- um, Kisame and Itachi talk about you all the time, so." He said, stuttering. I smiled and laughed.

"I'm just kidding, Pein." I said, turning to leave.

"I wasn't." He said, following me out of the bathroom door. I laughed and walked out into the living room with Pein where now Noki and the others sat on the floor, talking. I saw Kisame mouth something at Pein and then Pein rolled his eyes and shook his head. I smiled and walked over to Noki where she sat on the floor.

"You are going, right?" She asked, looking skeptical.

"Of course I am." I replied, smiling.

"Good! I was afraid I might have had to drag you there." Noki replied, grinning. I wonder what Kisame had said to Pein, and what he had said no to. Kisame got up from his place on the floor and followed Pein as he walked into the kitchen. I sat down next to Noki. On her other side was Hidan. Deidara and Sasori took up the couch like normal, and Itachi and Kakuzu sat on the floor across from us, talking quietly.

**Pein's POV**

I started walking towards the kitchen and when I turned around and found Kisame following me.

"So, what happened?" He asked, leaning back against the counter and talking to the others couldn't hear.

"Nothing. Why?" I asked.

"Because Naomi looks like she's been crying and you look sorta pissed off." He replied.

"I'll tell you later. At the dance." I said, turning to walk back into the living room.

**Naomi's POV  
_**

Pein walked back into the room, Kisame trailing after him.

"Ok, everybody ready?" Itachi asked, standing up. Everyone agreed and stood up and we all headed for the door. But then I remembered I would probably need a jacket.

"Wait, I'm gonna go get a jacket." I said, and turned to go to my room. I grabbed a dark blue zip-up hoodie and joined the others at the door. As we were walking down the hallways towards the complex door, I slid my arms through the sleeves and zipped up the white zipper and stuffed my hands in the pockets. We all walked down the stairs, trying not to trip over each other's feet or random decorations that popped out, trying to kill us. Itachi pushed the door open, and cold air flooded through again. I was a little warmer this time, but it was still cold. We walked across the school's grass and over to the main doors where other people were entering and meeting up with friends. There were also many couples dressed up and walking into the school, arms around each other, or holding hands. We walked into the school where there were scurrying students everywhere. There was some scared-looking freshman, looking around for the gym where the dance was being held. Even though there were huge signs with arrows on them pointing in the direction of the dance. We eventually made our way to the gym where there was a huge line to get in. I saw Ino and her little group in line as well as a few other people that I vaguely knew from other classes that had talked to me. A few people waved at me, and said hi. To which I mostly ignored. When we finally got to the front of the line and were let in, we walked into the huge gym, now filled with dancing students. It was mostly pitch black except for the neon-colored lights. There were a couple of black lights hanging from the ceiling and there were Halloween lights everywhere. You couldn't see all that well, except for the occasional flash of pink or green neon in your direction. There was something with a heavy techno beat playing and there were tons of people dancing horribly, and not being aware of other peoples' space. Which I didn't like, I was claustrophobic.

"It's hard to see in here." I said.

"No kidding." Pein replied back.

"With my luck, I'm probably going to run into something." I said, smirking.

"Don't worry." Pein said, grabbing my hand. "Come on; let's find some more light so we can see." He said, tugging me towards a lighter spot in the dimly-lit room. We found a spot by the bleachers where there was enough light to see and sat down.

"I'm gonna go set my jacket somewhere." I said, standing up.

"Ok." Pein said, letting go of my hand. I started to walk in the direction of the coat check I had seen when I came in. Come to think of it, I should have put my coat there when I first saw it. But now, I walked out of the gym doors, squinting because it was so bright out here compared to the very dark gym. I gave my coat to the girl at the counter and then started to walk in the direction of the doors to the gym. It was going to be hard to find my way back. I should have asked Pein to come with me. I walked through the doors to the gym and started making my way back to where Pein was on the bleachers. I bumped into some guy on the way there.

"Oh, sorry." I said, looking up at him. I immediately recognized him. It was James. He was here, at my school, at the dance.

"Hey, beautiful. I missed you." He said, and reached towards me. I started running in the direction where Pein sat. On the way there I lost him in the crowd, which I was thankful for. I ran to the bleachers and sat down, breathing hard.

"Naomi? Are you ok?" Pein asked, looking at me with wide eyes. I shook my head in response.

"What's wrong?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"James is here. I just saw him. I accidentally bumped into him and he recognized me. Pein, we have to get out of here." I said, looking frantically around us, expecting him to come up out of nowhere.

"He's here? Where is he?" Pein asked, looking around.

"He's right there." I said, pointing to him. I wondered how they had let him in the doors. He didn't go to school here, and didn't seem to be wearing a costume from what I could see. Pein nodded and stood up, grabbing my hand again. He looked around for an escape. We couldn't go through the front doors, he would see us. There was a back door, but we would have to be careful on the way there. Pein started heading towards the back door, crouching slightly. I didn't really have to duck because I was really short in the first place, and you couldn't see me over the crowd like you could with Pein. Pein walked quickly, tugging me along after him. I always checked behind us, but once when I did, James was right behind us, following.

"Pein." I said.

"Hm?" He asked, turning around. James stepped towards us, a scowl on his face. Pein held my hand tighter and pushed himself in front of me, blocking me from James' view.

"Move out of the way, you don't know what you're doing." James growled.

"No. You need to leave Naomi alone." Pein shot back. I ducked my head and hid behind Pein, I really hoped he didn't get hurt. I noticed Pein still had the blood splotched scissors in his pocket and almost smiled.

"Listen, I don't want to have to make you move. So why don't you just move out of the way?" James said.

"No. You're done hurting Naomi. I'm not going to let you do this to her anymore. Just leave." Pein said back. "You should stop texting her, too. It's really annoying and it pisses me off. And if you think I'm going to move, you can fuck off." Pein said venom in his voice. Has he seen the other messages? If he had, why didn't he tell me? James suddenly flew at Pein, fist raised. Pein easily blocked him and threw him to the ground. James laid there for a minute, then got up and left.

"Oh, and if you ever talk to Naomi again, I will personally find you, and hurt you the way you did her." Pein said to James as he left. Pein smirked and turned around to face me. I still looked at the ground.

"Are you ok?" Pein asked, smiling at me. I nodded and smiled back.

"Thanks." I said, reaching over and hugging him. He hugged me back.

"It's no big deal. He wasn't going to get away with what he did to you." Pein replied. "Just stay with me from now on, ok?" He said. I nodded. Itachi then came up to us, the others with him.

"Hey, Itachi. How's the dance for you so far?" Pein asked.

"Pretty good. It's kinda dark in here, though." Itachi said, looking around. I nodded and smiled. A familiar, heavy techno beat started playing and I recognized it immediately as 'The Loving Dead' By Blood on the Dance Floor. People around us started dancing like crazy. All of us moved to one of the corners so we wouldn't get sucked into the crowd of dancing people. There was a table of drinks over in another corner where some other people gathered. There were lots of couples around, dancing with each other and totally making out in the corners where they thought no one could see. I wondered why they were allowed to do that. There was supposed to be no public display of affection, but it always happened anyway. Most people totally ignored the rules that were posted nearly everywhere. I saw Hidan and Noki talking and laughing together and wondered when they had become such good friends. Lots of people had masks on, something that was probably a trend between lots of people that were friends. I saw Ino and Karin standing by the punch bowl in the corner, sipping from the little cups they had filled with the blood-red liquid. They glanced over at me, staring at me. I stared back. Why did they hate me so much? I had no idea. They continued to glare at me. I glared back with a blank expression on my face.

"You ok?" Pein asked quietly. The others were involved in a totally different conversation about something really random that I probably didn't want to know about.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, smiling and nodding. A slower song with a guitar started playing and I recognized it as 'Kissing in Cars' by Pierce the Veil. I liked this song as well, the dancing people started to slow, and most of them found partners to dance with and everybody started slow dancing. I looked around and noticed that Hidan and Noki were dancing awkwardly off to the side and smiled.

"_The first time I've seen love, and the last I'll ever need. You remind her, that your future would be nothing without her. Never losing, I'm afraid, so I think of something good to say. But it's all been done more than once so I'll keep on trying, oh god don't let me be the only one who says; No at the top of our lungs, there's no, no such thing as too you, when second chances won't leave you alone."_ This was another one of my favorite songs that I had on my iPod, and liked to turn it all the way up often. The song was mainly slow, but had its loud moments where drums and a little more guitar picked up in it, but for the most part it was pretty slow. I leaned back against the wall, sighing and closing my eyes. I had just relaxed when a pair of hands clamped down on my shoulder. My eyes flashed open to reveal some random guy. I didn't know him and he wasn't familiar at all.

"Hey baby, you're beautiful." He said. I tried to fight against his grip on my shoulders but couldn't break free. He was too strong. I closed my eyes, shutting them tightly and turning my head to the side. Suddenly, the weight of his hands on my shoulders came loose, and there was a booming sound.

"Back off, asshole." I heard Pein say. Sure enough, when I opened my eyes Pein was there, standing in front of me. I looked over to see the guy scrambling away. "Guys are all over you tonight." Pein said, looking around. I shrugged and looked down, still leaning against the wall.

"Well, it's no surprise." Itachi said, looking over at us. I rolled my eyes.

"Do you wanna go?" Pein said, nodding to the door. I nodded and followed him through the crowd of people to the main doors. We walked out to the benches that were in front of the school. I had made sure to grab my jacket before coming outside because I knew it was going to be cold. We sat down on the benches. I shivered when I sat down because it was cold. There were a few other students around as well.

"This is exactly why I prefer not to go to dances. Everyone is drunk and stupid." Pein said.

"Exactly. I told you, the dancing scene isn't for me. I'm totally claustrophobic and I am not a people person." I replied, shivering again from the cold.

"I didn't know you were claustrophobic." Pein said, smirking.

"I am. It's terrible." I replied, looking at the ground.

"So, do you get claustrophobic when I do this?" Pein asked, wrapping his arms around me and squishing me.

"Um, yeah." I said, trying to breathe. "Ok, Pein. I can't breathe." I said and he let go. I coughed a few times and then glared at him. He was laughing.

"You're evil." I said.

"I would hope that you would have noticed that by now." He replied, grinning. I rolled my eyes and chuckled. I shivered again from the wind that was blowing.

"You're cold, aren't you?" Pein asked, looking at me.

"Well, I'm always cold if you haven't noticed. See?" I said, touching his hand.

"I kind of noticed. But I thought it was me. I thought I was unnaturally warm. Apparently not." He said. "How do you get through winter being so cold?" He asked. I shrugged. I re-situated on the bench so that I was sitting with my legs crossed and my hands in the pocket of my sweatshirt. I was really tired and my eyes were starting to get heavy. It had to be around 10. A few minutes later the others came out, laughing and being stupid.

"You guys ready to go?" Deidara asked. We both nodded and got up and we all walked home. We entered the complex, and then my mind went blank. I don't remember anything after that. I just woke up in my bed and sat up. We didn't have school today, it was Saturday. I looked around, doing a once-over on the room. When I saw the other side of the bed, there was Pein, asleep. I stood and and covered my mouth with my hand before I could say anything. _Why the hell is Pein in here? I would have remembered if we did anything. Do the others know he's in here? If they do, they will immediately jump to conclusions. This is bad._ I couldn't think of anything to do, so I walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Nobody was there, so I just sat down at the table and thought of what could have happened. I wasn't paying attention, so when Deidara came out of his room and tried to talk to me, I didn't reply, lost in thought.

"Hello? Naomi!" Deidara said, clapping his hands in front of my face.

"Oh, sorry. Just . . . thinking." I said, smiling.

"Ok." He said, lookng at me funny. I looked up when Pein walked into the room, a wide-eyed expression on his face.

"Hey, Naomi? Can I talk to you for a second?" He asked, looking at me. I nodded and stood up, following him to my room. I shut the door behind us.

"What happened last night?" I asked, my eyes wide.

"Ok, let me explain." Pein said.

"That would be a good idea, because I don't remember." I said.

"Ok. Well, last night apprently Itachi like, passed out in my bed or something. And he wouldn't move, he was totally out. And so, I apparently came in here. We were all really tired last night. But that's pretty much all I remember." He explained.

"Oh, ok. That makes a lot more sense. Do you know how much I freaked out this morning?" I said.

"I assume very badly." He said. I nodded.

"Do you think the others know?" I asked.

"I don't think they do. Itachi might be confused, but I can say I slept on the couch or something." He replied. I nodded. After that, we got up and went back out into the kitchen and walked into one hell of a Saturday morning.


	4. Help

**A/N: Sorry that this is so late! I meant to update sooner, but my internet was down and my computer broke :c**

**So, now here is a chapter that is full of information regarding Naomi's past, and it gets a little emotional, so yeah.**

**Enjoy!**

**~ Aiko**

**Time Skip!**

**Monday, November 3****rd**

I woke up on Monday, my normal alarm clock blaring at me. I rolled over and glared at it.

"Hey, Mr. Alarm Clock, please do me the pleasure of shutting the fuck up." I say, mostly to myself since there was no one else in the room. I sit up and turn it off, pressing the small button on the top. I get up reluctantly and walked over to my closet. I feel something twinge inside my brain, something I haven't felt in a while. I blink a couple of times and then look around my room, still dark because I hadn't turned on the light yet. I shrugged it off, it used to happen all the time when I was around my friends as a child, but hasn't happened since I moved. I pick out a rainbow colored shirt with a Mudkips on it. I grinned at the shirt, and slipped it over my head. I picked out a pair of white light blue jeans with tears in them, and put them on as well. After that I walk into the bathroom and straighten my hair and put on my usual make up. My hair is getting longer and reaches my hips now. I notice my eyes are different today as well. They are a light brown with green flecks in them. I hadn't seen this color in a really long time, not since I had moved, but I shrugged it off and left the bathroom. Then I walk over to my door where my shoes were and slipped them on, tying the rainbow show laces tight. I start humming as I do this. I then realize that I have a song stuck in my head and sigh. It's Trouble by Never Shout Never. I continue to hum the tune as I open the door and walk out into the kitchen.

**Pein's POV**

I sit at the kitchen table, drinking some coffee and trying to wake myself up. This coffee isn't helping very much. Then I heard a faint humming coming from the hallway and smile. The voice was extremely familiar and I knew who it was immediately. I smile and look up to see Naomi enter the kitchen. She was wearing blue pants and a shirt with some sort of blue animal on it. She sits down across from me, still humming and a smile on her face. She seemed to be zoning off, it was kind of funny when she did this.

"You look happy today." I say, setting down my cup of coffee. She looks up from the table and smiles at me, and my heart jumps inside my chest. There's that same smile that had been stuck in my head all weekend, I love her smile. It's beautiful.

"I am." She replies, grinning.

"Why's that?" I ask. She shrugged her small shoulders and smiled. A few of the others were in the kitchen, but hadn't noticed Naomi enter the room. Itachi looked over at us from his spot across the room sitting on the couch. Sasori sat next to him but didn't bother looking back, he probably didn't care. Deidara was in the kitchen, making toast, but also didn't care. Hidan and Kakuzu were still in their room, probably sleeping.

"We should go soon." Itachi says, standing up from the couch.

"Ok." Naomi said, and picked up her bag. I picked up my back pack and walked towards the door with the others.

**Naomi's****POV**

We left the apartment and started walking down the stairs. We reached the door and walked out into the cold. We walked over to the school and across the campus. At the front doors I felt the strange twinge in my spine again. I looked around. Nothing seemed out of order.

"Are you ok?" Pein says, looking over at me. I nod and follow them into the school, where we were immediately greeted with the bell. Pein and I walked to our lockers. I got to my locker, but noticed something. I looked over to see a girl, on the other side of the guy next to me. She looked extremely familiar. She had platinum blonde hair that cascaded down in curly ringlets. The ends of her hair were vibrant metallic silver. She was wearing a white dress shirt with puffy short sleeves and silver lining that fit her body and showed off the curves in her hips. She was also wearing a pair of tight black pants and white and silver converse. Her eyes were a bright golden. She seems so familiar. I feel another strange twinge and turn to Pein.

"Hey, Pein, who's that?" I asked, pointing to the girl. He looks over at her and then back at me and shrugs. I turn around and look at her again. She's wearing a bracelet and ring that were encrusted with diamonds, which matched the earrings she wore and a silver locket around her neck. I looked down to my necklace that I wore. I picked it up and looked at it, and then remembered something.

_**Flashback!**_

_I met her around the back of the school, where we met every day. I walked around the corner of the school and saw her. She grinned at me and ran over, tackling me with a hug._

"_Naomi!" She said. "Look what I got for us!" She said, her voice mixed with giggles. She handed me a silver, heart-shaped necklace._

"_Open it!" She said enthusiastically. I took it from her hand and slid the heart open. There was a picture of her; the other side didn't have a picture yet._

"_It has a picture of you." I said, looking up and grinning up at her._

"_Yup, and mine has a picture of you!" She said, sliding hers open to reveal a picture of me. I smiled at her and giggled._

"_That's really cool!" I said, looking back down at mine. I slid it over my head._

"_Well, that's what best friends do, right?" She asked, smiling at me. The crescent moon in her eye sparkled when she said this. I looked at her and grinned._

_**End of Flashback!**_

I almost dropped my books. I looked up from the locket and my eyes widened. Is that her? What are the chances of that? I haven't seen her in forever. I look at her again. Was this why she was so familiar? My hands shook. I was pretty sure it was her, but I couldn't remember her name. I searched my brain for an answer but was coming up with nothing. I looked at her again, more closely this time. I saw that one of her eyes had a silver crescent moon in it. I suddenly remember it. Tsuki. That was her name. Tsuki Hikari. Most of the students had cleared out of the hallway by now. Tsuki stopped messing with the lock on her locker and stepped away from it. She looked over at me and blinked a couple times, her eyes growing wide. I could still feel Pein standing right next to me, tugging on my shoulder and trying to snap me back to reality. I ignore him. I brush off his hand and take a step forward.

"Tsuki?" I ask, my hands still shaking. I'm still holding the necklace. She looked at me in surprise and then looked down at my hands which were clasping the necklace. The necklace still held her picture, along with the other one which is of my parents. She looks down at her necklace and then looks back up at me. I drop my books and begin to walk towards her, not caring anymore. My eyes are beginning to tear up a little bit, now knowing who she is, and what an important role she has played in my life. I walk until I'm right in front of her.

"You . . . Are you . . . ?" She says quietly. I nod, a smile spreading across my face. She steps forward and catches me in a tight embrace like she had when we were younger. I hug her back, still tearing up.

"I can't believe it's you." She whispers.

"I know." I reply. She pulls back and looks at me.

"I don't know how I didn't know it was you right away. You're eyes are different. Are you feeling ok?" She asks. She knows about my eyes, and how they change. Hers change in the same way, just different colors. A lot of stuff was the same for us. That was the main reason we were friends in the first place.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I think it was you that threw my eyes off balance." I say. She nods

"That used to happen all the time when we were young." She says and I nod.

"What class do you have first?" I ask, as we started to walk back towards Pein, who stands there transfixed with confusion.

"I have Math. What do you have?" She asks as we approach Pein.

"I have Math, too!" I say, grinning at her. Pein continues to look confused.

"Pein, this is my friend Tsuki. She was my best friend when we were little kids." I say. Tsuki waves at him and smiles.

"Hi, I'm Pein." He says. She smiles and nods. "We're gonna be late if we don't go now." Pein says, looking at me. I nod and walk behind Pein with Tsuki. Until we get to the math room.

We walk into the math room and people immediately begin to stare at Tsuki. They always do that with new kids. Pein and I sat Tsuki down at our table with Kisame and Kakuzu.

"Who's this?" Kisame says, staring at Tsuki.

"Kisame, this is Tsuki. She's new here, but is one of my very best friends." I say.

"Cool, I'm Kisame, and this is Kakuzu. He likes money." Kisame says, and grins. Tsuki giggles and sits down. The teacher in math class didn't really pay attention or teach anything because he, like all the other teachers, sat at a desk and would read during class time, and nobody had a problem with that. Tsuki was in my next class as well, and after taking a look at her schedule, I realize she is in all of my classes, like Pein. Our next class is Social Studies, which is exactly like the last one. I introduced Tsuki to Deidara and Sasori, along with Hidan. After the bell rang for that class, we walked to the art room. I sit Tsuki down at our table. There had been two desks added, Anko had probably put them here for Hidan and Tsuki. Noki looks at me weird as I talk to Tsuki.

"Hey, Noki. This is Tsuki; she's a really good friend of mine." I say, looking over at her. Tsuki smiles at Noki.

"Nice to meet you, Noki." Tsuki say, smiling.

"Nice to meet you, too." Noki says back, smiling as well. Hidan then walks into the room, cussing as usual. A grin spread across Noki's face. I kind of wondered what had been happening with them lately, but had decided it would be better to mind my own business.

"Hi, Hidan." Noki says with a grin. I can't help but notice Sasuke give a sideways glance at Hidan, and then roll his eyes. What is that about? I've never seen Sasuke do anything before, he normally doesn't ever look at people. But nobody else seems to notice him do this.

"Hey." He replies back. Then his eyes fixed on Tsuki and he raised an eyebrow. "Who's this?" He asked, looking at her and totally checking her out.

"Hidan, this is Tsuki." I say, smirking.

"Oh, right. People are already talking about you." He replies. I roll my eyes and sit down in my spot. Tsuki's desk had been added on to the end of our table, with Hidan's right next to it. Noki looks over at Tsuki.

"Hey, Tsuki?" Noki asks, "Would you mind trading spots with me? I can't see the board." Noki says, smiling. Tsuki nods and switches spots so that Tsuki is across from me, next to Sasuke. Sasuke glances over at Tsuki and looks slightly more disappointed. Who knew Sasuke had actual emotions? Anko starts lecturing us about something, but I, like most of the class, really don't care and refuse to listen. I turn my back to her and rest my chin on my hand and look down at the table. My bangs flop down and cover one of my eyes. I glance sideways to see Pein looking at me and smirking.

"What?" I ask, smiling.

"You look bored." He says back.

"I am. She never stops talking." I say, grinning. He chuckles. I look over and notice that Tsuki is watching Pein and I talk. She smiles at me and looks at Pein raising her eyebrows. I shake my head at her, and roll my eyes. This is how we talk sometimes, because we've been friends for so long, we know what we are saying to each other. Then, Anko dismisses us for lunch. We walk out of the room and into the Cafeteria, where it's always loud. We all get our food, which isn't always edible, and then sit down, introducing Tsuki to everyone else that sits at our table. Tsuki seems to catch Itachi's eye, which I think is sort of cute. I sit down next to Pein, with Tsuki on my other side. Noki sits next to Hidan, who is next to Kisame. Deidara and Sasori are sitting next to each other, and Itachi sits next to them, across from Tsuki.

"So, Naomi, you heard from James since the dance?" Pein asks, looking over at me. I look up at him shocked for a minute. Then I smirk, knowing he's kidding.

"No. I think you scared him off for good." I reply, grinning. Tsuki looks confused, but doesn't ask about it, she knows that I'll tell her about it later. Itachi smirks and looks over at me.

"What did Pein do?" He asks.

"Well, James saw me at the dance and stuff, and Pein scared him." I reply. He turns to Pein.

"Ok, what actually happened?" He asks Pein, who laughs.

"Actually, she's pretty accurate. I really didn't have to do much." Pein says, and looks over at me. I smile back.

"Are you two dating?" Tsuki asks suddenly. All of our heads turn to her.

"No." I say, trying to keep a smile on my face, and trying to ignore how awkward that was. Pein forces a smile and looks down; I can't help but notice that he's blushing a little. I hear Kisame chuckle and look up at him. He's looking over at Pein, who keeps his eyes fixed down on his tray. After that, the bell for lunch rings and we go back to the art room. But we don't have much time left of class, so we all head to our last class, which is P.E. P.E, turns out to be really boring and we all play indoor soccer, which is really lame. After school, Pein and I walk back towards our lockers.

"Sorry about earlier, Tsuki is oblivious to how awkward she is sometimes." I say, looking down. He looks over at me and smirks.

"It's ok. It was just a little weird, y'know?" He says. I nod. We arrive at our lockers and when I get all my stuff out, he's still getting his, so I lean back against my locker and wait.

"I don't wanna go home. I just don't wanna deal with people today. Like, I don't want to lash out at anyone, because it scares people." I say. He shuts his locker and looks at me.

"I know what you mean. Wanna go somewhere?" He asks.

"Like where?"

"I don't know. A park or something. Wherever." He says, and shrugs. I nod.

"Yeah. Sure." I say. We walk to the nearest park and sit down at a bench. There aren't any people around because the bench is pretty deep into the park. We set our backpacks down on the ground. I resituate on the bench so that I'm sitting with my legs crossed.

"You and Tsuki are really close, aren't you?" He asks suddenly, taking me by surprise.

"Uh, yeah. We've been friends since we both were, like, eight." I reply. He nods.

"I never really had friends as a child. They all thought I was weird. And scary." Pein says, and looks down.

"Why? You're not scary. I bet you were a cute kid." I say, grinning.

"I apparently wasn't." He says.

"Well, you're cute now, so it doesn't matter." I say, grinning at him.

"You think so?" He asks, looking over and smiling at me. I nod.

"Well, if it's worth anything, you're cute too." He replies. I giggle and smile at him.

"Really, though. I don't think you know how pretty you are." He says. I look over and smile at him.

"I'm not all that great." I say quietly.

"Oh yeah? Ask all of the guys at school, and see what they say. Really, I don't think that you notice how many guys stare at you. They do, and it annoys me. A lot." He says. I look up at him and smile. I never knew he felt like this.

"Is that why you're always weird at lunch?" I ask. He shrugs.

"Pein . . . you're not jealous, are you?" I ask. He doesn't reply, just looks down, and half smiles.

"You are." I say. "That's cute." I add, grinning.

"It's not all that cute. I don't want to be jealous, but I am. I mean, I like you, but I don't know if it's that kind of like, or the other kind. But yeah, I really like you, and I get jealous when other guys look at you, and I think you're really beautiful, but I-"Pein says, but I cut him off.

"Pein?" I ask, and he looks at me. "You ok?" I ask.

"I said all that out loud, didn't I?" He asks. I nod and smile.

"Well, there go my feelings. How about yours?" He asks, looking down.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, yeah, I like you too. You make me nervous, and you always make me laugh, and I can really trust you, and I like that. I'm not too good about expressing my feelings at all. I never have been, so this isn't easy. I haven't had a boyfriend since James, and it's really hard for me to trust guys, so it's a surprise that I can actually talk to you about stuff that I would normally only talk to Tsuki about. Even my dad was abusive, and it's just . . . not easy." I say and sigh. I look over and he's watching me.

"I didn't know that your dad was abusive. I'm so sorry." He says, putting a hand on my shoulder. I begin to tear up, despite desperately trying not to. Tears well up and spill over onto my cheeks. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me closer, hugging me tight. I shudder and shake in his arms. He rests his chin on my shoulder and pulls me closer.

"It's ok. They're not here anymore. You've got me, and I would never hurt you." He whispers. I nod and he pulls me closer again. Then he pulls me back and looks at me. He reaches over and wipes away the tears on my cheeks. I smile weakly and he hugs me again.

"You know, there was something I was going to ask you, but never mind, this isn't a good time." He says his lips close to my ear again.

"Now you have to tell me because you mentioned it." I say. He chuckles.

"You really wanna know?" He asks. I nod and smile.

"Well, since I like you a lot, and Kisame has been pressuring me about this lately, I was going to ask you if you would be my girlfriend." He asks. I grin and laugh. I think about it for a minute, although I don't really have to. I know I like Pein, but the idea of dating him is unreal. I'd never actually thought about it. I finally find the right words to say.

"Well, I already told you that I really like you." I say, still hugging him. "So, yes."

"Yeah?" He asks, I can tell he's grinning.

"Yeah." I reply. He pulls back and looks at me. I smile at him and he smiles back.

"We should probably get going." Pein says, and stands up. I stand up and grab my backpack. We start walking back to the apartment, and somehow his hand finds mine on the way there, and his fingers intertwine with mine. We get to the complex and go inside, walking up the stairs. We enter the apartment where everyone is sitting on the living room floor.

"Hey! Where have you guys been?!" Deidara yells from the couch. Kisame gets up to walk into the kitchen and catches that Pein and I are holding hands. I let go of his hand and walk to my room. I set down my bag and smile.

**Pein's POV**

Naomi lets go of my hand and walks down the hall to her room. I walk into the kitchen where Kisame is. He looks over at me and smirks.

"So, holding hands?" He asks.

"Yup." I reply.

"Dating?" He asks. I nod and grin.

"You asked her?" He asks. I nod again and look up at him.

"Good, because if you hadn't I might have." He replies. I grin at him and then follow Naomi to her room. I knock on her door and wait for her to answer.

**Naomi's POV**

I hear a knock on my door and immediately know that it's Pein. I open the door and let him in.

"What did Kisame say?" I ask, knowing that Kisame must have said something.

"Not much. Just asked me if we were dating." He says and shrugs. I nod, Kisame's probably telling everyone right now. I sit down on the end of my bed and Pein sits down next to me.

"Pein, can I ask you something?" I ask, looking at him. He looks over at me and nods.

"How long have you liked me?" I ask.

"Since I first met you. Hence, the awkward staring on the first day of school." He replies, smirking. I smile and laugh. Yeah, the first day of school was really awkward. That was a really long time ago, now that I think about it.

"Hey, Naomi? When's your birthday?" Pein asks out of nowhere.

"Uh, November 6th. Why?" I ask.

"That's really soon. I was just wondering. Are you gonna be 17?" He asks.

"No. I'm 15, actually." I say, smiling. He smirks and laughs.

"I didn't know you were that young. I'm 17." He says, smiling.

"Yeah, but I bet you went to preschool." I say, smirking. He laughs and grins at me. I remembered my mom telling me and preschool was a waste of time and money, so I had never went. I think it's kind of funny because I know people that went to preschool twice.

"You didn't go to preschool?" He asks, laughing. I look down and shake my head, smirking.

"Um, I've wanted to ask you something." Pein says, looking at me.

"Ok." I reply.

"I've recently heard from my family, and they want me to come visit over Christmas break, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?" He asked, smiling.

"Your family?" I ask. I immediately go nervous, and get worried. He nods. "What if they don't like me?" I ask, looking up at him. He smirks at me.

"They're gonna like you. Don't worry about it. My siblings live there along with my parents, by the way." He says.

"Well, I don't have anyone to go see on Christmas break, so yeah that should be fine." I reply. He grins at me.

"I've actually told them a lot about you already." He says, looking down.

"Really?" I ask. He looks up at me and nods.

"My sister really wants to meet you. And my brothers. And everybody else." He says, grinning.

"I didn't know you had siblings." I say, looking at him.

"I do, most of them are younger than me, but some of my brothers are older." He says.

"I'm an only child. Both of my parents are dead." I suddenly confess. I forget that he doesn't know this yet. He's quiet for a long time, and stares at the floor. I was planning on telling him sooner or later, but my brain decided that now was a good time. Thanks, brain. I don't talk either, letting this sink in on him. At least now he doesn't have to meet my parents, although it wouldn't be all that great anyways because my dad was a huge douchebag. I sigh and look up at him.

"I'm sorry." He whispers, looking back at me. I shrug; I've heard it many times before. Pein looks at me in a very serious way, which sort of scares me.

"Now I want to know everything. Tell me what all you've been through, you've got me interested." He says, still looking at me.

"Well, if you really wanna know." I say. He nods.

"Well, when I was born, my dad didn't really want children in the first place, but my mom told him there was no way in hell that she was going to get an abortion, so yeah. Sometimes I feel like I'm some sort of an accident, y'know?" I say. He nods understandingly.

"So, when I was born, around the age of five, my dad started to abuse my mom, and by the time I was seven, he was abusing me as well." I say and look up to see Pein's reaction. His jaw clenches, and he looks down at me. He nods at me to continue. His jaw is still clenched and I can tell that he's mad. I reach up and gently touch his cheek. He closes his eyes and leans his head into my hand. His jaw unclenches; he opens his eyes and looks at me, smiling. I force a smile back. He nods again, and I take my hand from his cheek. He sees that I struggle to go on, and he reaches down and grasps both of my hands in his. I take a deep breath and sigh, and then continue, I know he's not going to like this part.

"I was abused up until I was about ten, and then I started cutting myself, and I still have scars." I say, my voice breaking every so often. His hands grip tighter onto mine and his jaw clenches, worse this time. I begin to tear up now, and he sees that, but I continue anyways.

"I became very anorexic, and I wouldn't eat. I refused, I would go about 2 days without eating, and then eat, but only when they weren't around. I was still self-harming myself at this time, and I was being abused. This continued all the way up until I was about fourteen. That's when I started dating James. And even then I never got away from abuse. I feel like I'm a mistake. Like, nobody ever wanted me, and ever will, because I'm just a mistake, just an accident." I say. I begin to full-blown sob now, resting my head in my hands and crying. Pein reaches over and pulls me close, pressing my face into his chest. I sob into his chest, and he doesn't seem to mind.

"Pein, I've never told anyone about this. The self-harm, I mean." I manage to say through tears. He rests his chin on top of my head; he hasn't said anything in a long time.

"I know. You can trust me. I'm not going to tell anyone. You're not an accident. And of course people want you, what do you think Tsuki would do without you? And Noki? And me? I don't know what I would do without you." He says. I manage to stop crying and I'm just sniffling now.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?" He asks. There is something, but it's going to make him mad, and I don't want to do that. He's gonna be mad at me. He's gonna tell me to stop. I don't think I can, I'm in too deep already.

"No, it'll just make you mad." I say.

"You can tell me. I'm not going to be mad. I promise." He says.

"Pein, I still cut myself sometimes." I say. I wait for his reaction, which is nothing at first. I rest my forehead against his chest and close my eyes.

"Are you mad?" I ask quietly.

"A little bit. I understand, though. After all you've been through. I just wish that I could take all of it away so you didn't have to deal with it. I do want you to stop, and I know that's going to be hard. But, I'm willing to help you. Whenever you feel like doing this, talk to me. I don't care if it's four in the morning, come talk to me." He says, looking at me. I nod.

"Where are you cutting?" He asks. I stay silent and don't say anything. I don't even move.

"It's not your wrists, so where?" He asks again. I look up at him and then look down again.

"Around my ribs and my hips. Occasionally on my thighs, only on my arms when I'm really upset." I say quietly. He sighs and puts a hand on my back.

"How deep are they?" He asks.

"I'll just show you." I say. I scoot away and stand up. I pull up my shirt slightly, just enough so that it reveals my hips. There are deep, red scratches and gashes across some parts of my hips, and it gets worse as you go up. The gashes get deeper and longer up around my ribs. He gently touches one of the scars and sighs. He looks up at me and I look down at him. He stands up and hugs me, pulling me close to his body, so close that I can hear his heartbeat in my ear. He pulls back and looks at me.

"I'm gonna help you." He says. I smile and he smiles back. Pein leans forward and touches his lips to mine. I kiss him back, and I wonder how long he's wanted to do this. It's even better than I expected, which makes me smile. Since I'm so short, I have to stand up on my tip toes and he has to lean, and even then I can barely reach. I reach up and wrap my arms around his shoulders. He pulls back and looks at me.

"You're beautiful. Don't ever think you're a mistake, or an accident, because you're not." He says.

"Pein?" I ask.

"Yeah?" He replies.

"Thank you." I say, and rest my forehead against his. Then there's a knock on my door and I don't want to answer it. Instead I let go of Pein and he answers the door. I sit down on my bed, and look down at my lap.

"Tsuki?" Pein asks, as she storms into the room.

"There's something wrong with Naomi. Why is she upset?" Tsuki asks. I look up and Tsuki's there. She looks at me and sees that I've been crying. She plops down next to me and puts her arm around my shoulders.

"Naomi, did you tell him?" She asks. I nod and start crying again. Tsuki pulls me into her lap and rubs my back with one of her hands. The other hand holds mine. Tsuki looks up at Pein and frowns.

"Pein, I always know whenever something is wrong with Naomi. I don't know what it is, but whenever she's upset, or mad, or sad, I always know. She's the same way about me, she always knows. I hate it when she's sad the most, because it's like I can feel it, too. And it hurts. She's been through so much. She needs you." Tsuki says. She looks back down at me and strokes my hair. Tsuki has always been like a sister to me. I take a deep breath and stop crying. Tsuki's hand gently pats my back as I sit up from her lap. She smiles and I smile back weakly.

"I'm ok." I whisper. She nods and stands up. She leaves, leaving Pein and I in my room. I sit on the bed, so much has happened. Pein sits down next to me. I glance over at the clock and its 11:30. I sigh and run a hand through my hair. Pein takes my free hand and holds it. I grip his hand and look up at him.

"Pein. I need you here. I don't want to cut." I say, looking at him. He nods.

"I planned on staying anyways." He says, and smiles. I smile back at him. That night, I have absolutely no problem falling asleep that night.

**A/N: So, what did you think? You better leave me a review and tell me! You can also give me ideas of what you think should happen. R&R! Oh, and flamers are lamers. C:**

**~Aiko**


	5. Detention

**Tuesday: **

**November 4****th**

I wake up with a pounding migraine the throbs right behind my eyes. My obnoxious alarm clock doesn't help this. My eyes are a different color, and I can tell just by looking around the room. They feel like they're a really pale blue, almost white maybe. I shut my eyes tighter and then rub my head, wishing the pain in my head would go away. I feel Pein's arms slip out from around my waist and re-adjust my position on the bed. The alarm clock stops and I figure that Pein turned it off. I feel Pein lay back down behind me.

"Hey." He says, close to my ear. "We have to get up." I sniffle and roll over, turning towards him. I curl into a ball and nuzzle into his chest.

"Do we have to?" I ask quietly.

"As much as I would like to stay here all day, I'm afraid that we have to get up." He says, wrapping his arms around me.

"Fine," I say and pull away. I sit up and walk over to my closet. I rifle through the hangers until I find something that I want to wear. I pick out a black Asking Alexandria shirt with 'Asking Alexandria' written on the front in purple cursive. I take out a pair of black skinny jeans out of the dresser in my closet and set them next to the shirt. I look back at Pein, who looks back at me. He stands up and walks over to the door.

"I'm just gonna, go . . . and uh, change." Pein says. I laugh and nod. He leaves, closing the door behind him. I change into the clothes that I picked out and then go in the bathroom and straighten all of the waves out of my hair. I put on my normal make up, and notice that my eyes are, indeed, a very pale blue, very close to a white color. After I'm done, I put on my shoes and walk out into the living room. But before I do, I look over at my dresser, and my eyes flick down to the bottom drawer, where there is a picture of my mom, a few other drawing that are important to me, and under all of that, lies the razor that I cut myself with. My eyes snap forward and I walk out into the kitchen where Deidara sits at the table. Sasori sits on the couch again, and Itachi is with Deidara at the table. The rest are either still in bed, or already at school, which is highly unlikely. I sit down at the table across from Itachi, who glances up at me when I sit down. He then does a double take, and takes a minute to study my pearlescent eyes for a minute.

"Naomi, did you get contacts?" He asks, looking more. Deidara's head lifts up at this, curious.

"No. They change with my mood. It's weird." I say. He nods, and Deidara looks over at me, also taking a minute to study them.

"Wow, yeah that's different." Deidara says, looking back down at his breakfast. Pein comes out of his room and I hear the door close. I look up at him as he walks into the kitchen. He shoots me a smile and I smile back. That reminds me of something. What didn't Deidara and Itachi say anything about me and Pein? Did Kisame tell them? I assumed that he had, but maybe he hadn't. Pein sits down in the empty chair next to me. I hear Kisame's bedroom door open, and try to avoid his gaze as he enters the kitchen. There's a knock on the door and since Kisame's already up, he answers it and lets Tsuki in. Tsuki walks in wearing a black shirt that says "IDGAF" across the front in white letters. Her pants are a faded light blue, and her shoes are white and black checkered and she has a little cat ring around her finger that has little ears sticking up from it, along with matching earrings. Her hair is also styled different today. Her hair is straighter, with a tiny bit of a curl at the end. The color is the same as yesterday, blonde, fading into silver at the ends. I was thinking about dyeing my hair again soon, but I was unsure of what color to go with. I was thinking of keeping it black up around the top of my head and my bangs, and dyeing the longer strands different shades of blue, purple, and green. Itachi glances up at Tsuki as she enters the room, I'm really starting to think that he likes her; just by the way he looks at her. I stand up when Tsuki walks over to me and drag her into my room, telling her that I have to tell her something. When we get in my room I shut the door behind her and smirk at her. She probably already knows, and I'm surprised she hasn't said anything.

"Whoa. Your eyes. What's up with you?" She asks. I don't say anything. I just bite my lip and look down, still smirking. I don't really have to explain because she knows me, and how I act.

"It has something to do with Pein. I can tell." She says. I look up at her and nod.

"You're dating, aren't you?" She asks. I nod and grin.

"Well, I'm super happy for you. But don't do what you did with James. If Pein ever hurts you, tell me." She says, looking concerned.

"Pein wouldn't hurt me." I say, shaking my head. In fact, he gets mad when he finds out that people have hurt me before. That's exactly why he hates James.

"I know." She says, smiling. "But just in case, you know you can always tell me."

"Yeah, I know." I reply. We leave my room to now find everyone sitting at the table now. Everyone seems to either be awake, or at least half-aware of what's going on around them. Pein is leaning back against the counter in the kitchen. He looks up and smirks at me when I enter the room with Tsuki, who Itachi eyes once more. Something is definitely up with him. I'll have to talk to him about this. The others don't seem to notice the looks Pein and I give each other. I think the only one that does notice is Tsuki, and maybe Kisame, but he already knows, so it doesn't really matter. I return back to my room to grab my backpack, and then we all leave. Heading out the door and down the stairs to the campus. When we get there, there are lots of people waiting outside, and that's when we see it. Ino and that one girl with the green hair fighting. They're yelling at each other, and it's quite interesting. Ino is freaking the fuck out, yelling and flailing her arms. The other girl just keeps her cool and looks at Ino like she's mentally retarded, and she may be. I stop to watch, and so does everybody else. I'm hearing the words 'Bitch', 'Slut', and 'Whore' being thrown around like it's charades or something, and they're trying to act out what Ino is trying to be. Good, witty insults come from the one girl's mouth while, grumbled, yelling, and very angry bad insults come from Ino, which shows just how immature she really is. In fact, she probably started this fight. I don't think it would surprise anybody if it did. Suddenly, after the green-haired girl says something that really pissed Ino off, Ino lunges forward and connects her fist to the girl's collarbone. I wince, knowing that had probably hurt. But the girl is already anticipating this and she reacts right back and throws Ino to the ground on her back. I burst out laughing, partly because I'm an evil little person, and I love to see people that I hate in pain. And the other part is because of the hilarious expression on Ino's face. She has a really shocked, over whelmed look on her face. Apparently, being thrown to the ground is enough and Ino stands and stalks off without another word.

"Well, that was interesting." Kisame comments, walking towards the doors. I nod, this had been much better than anticipated. We all walk towards the doors, and I find it hilarious that not one teacher had showed up, although it was a very obvious and not so quiet fight; it could have been easily recognized. But I think the teachers just didn't want to get in the middle of it. Or maybe they wanted to see Ino get her ass kicked. Who knows? We enter the school and are immediately swallowed by stupid chatter about the fight. It's extremely loud, as always. My eyes are even lighter now, and I can feel it. Pein and I walk to our lockers, and Tsuki splits off from us because her locker is about ten away from ours. Pein and I arrive at our lockers and as I begin flipping around the lock, I hear Pein say something.

"So, are we planning on telling the others?" He asks. I know exactly what he means by this.

"If you want to. Kisame and Tsuki already know, though." I say. "Eventually they'll find out anyway."

"Yeah, that's true. If anything, it'll be lunch when they bring it up." He replies. I nod, and my locker opens up. His opens as well. I shove my backpack in my locker and then take out my binder, and the rest of the stuff I will need for the day. I shut my locker and Tsuki comes up next to me. She smiles and waits because Pein is still getting his stuff out of his locker. When he's done, we head to the math room, where we don't do much. A few math problems here and there, but mostly just reading. After that we head to Art as usual, where Hidan and Noki are sitting and talking. We enter the room and sit down at the table like normal. Although, today when Tsuki sits down, Sasuke doesn't look disappointed. Actually, he seems to be a little intrigued that Tsuki is sitting next to him and he actually sort of smirks. Anko enters the room and immediately dismisses us for lunch like normal. We all walk to lunch, and meet the others at the table. I sit down next to Pein, with Tsuki on my other side, and next to her is Itachi. Kisame, Noki, Hidan, Sasori, and Deidara sit at the other side of the table, and Kakuzu is nowhere to be found. Tsuki and Itachi talk quietly amongst themselves, and nobody really bothers them.

"So, Naomi, I heard something interesting from Kisame this morning." Deidara says. Kisame's eyes widen for a minute at hearing this.

"Yeah? What's that?" I say, already knowing what it is. Pein quietly sighs next to me.

"I heard that you and Pein are dating." Deidara says, grinning. I laugh and smile.

"Yeah. And?" I ask, still smiling.

"I think it's cute." Deidara says, smiling. I laugh.

"Whoa, wait. You two are dating?" Hidan asks, and Noki looks shocked and happy at the same time. I nod.

"He actually did it." Sasori comments, smirking. I smirk at him and laugh. Pein rolls his eyes and looks over at me.

"I'm sorry they're dumb." He says. I smile.

"It's ok. I think I'm used to it by now." I say, grinning.

"Oh, also, Naomi's birthday is soon, guys." Pein says, smiling. I look over at him and narrow my eyes.

"Yeah? How old are you gonna be?" Kisame asks.

"I'm gonna be 16 on the 6th." I reply.

"You're only 15?" Kisame asks, laughing. I roll my eyes and nod.

"I never went to preschool, ok." I say, smirking and Pein laughs. Kisame laughs too, and Noki grins at me.

"I didn't know that." Noki says. I shrug, it doesn't really matter. You don't have to go to preschool, or I'd be one large preschooler. After talking about a few more things, we dump our trays and go back to class, where we have free time. I decide to take out my notebook and draw, because that's normally what I do when we have free time. I don't take out my iPod because I don't really feel like it. I decide to draw random swirls around the paper, with no artistic direction. I can feel Pein watching me and when I look over at him, sure enough, he's looking at me.

"What?" I ask, smiling.

"It's fun to watch you draw." He says, shrugging. Noki watches us and smiles.

"You guys are cute." She says, grinning.

"Shut up." I say and smile at her. She grins back, she looks over at Hidan and smiles and him. After that, we hear the bell ring and we all walk to P.E. When we get there, Ino is being a bitch as usual and is yelling at people. She looks at me and then sneers. Tsuki gives her a dirty look and Ino looks away. After talking about what we were gonna do, the teacher says that we had to go and change immediately, so we do. After Noki, Tsuki, and I come out of the locker room, everyone else is sitting on the floor, stretching. After we all stretched, we played indoor hockey, which is better than soccer, but isn't too much better. When the three of us come out of the changing room we find Pein, Kisame, Sasori, and Hidan waiting by the bleachers. After we are all standing by the bleachers, Ino walks over, being a bitch as usual.

"Look, it's the emo kids and they're dumb blonde little friend." She says. My eyes immediately flash to Tsuki. Ino has no clue what force she is reckoning with. Tsuki's eyes turn a shade dark, sort of reddish. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you shouldn't fuck with Tsuki.

"_She's _the dumb blonde? Ino, I think you've got Tsuki and yourself mixed up, and by the way, I wouldn't pick a fight with Tsuki if I were you." I say, narrowing my eyes at Ino.

"Yeah? Well, why don't you shut up and go cut yourself, you little emo bitch." Ino spits, glaring at me. Tsuki's eyes turn blood red. She is pissed off. Pein steps forward a little.

"I'm sorry, that's not emo, that's beautiful. Something you wouldn't know." He says, glaring at her. I smirk at this, and then remember Tsuki. Tsuki steps in front of Pein, her eyes burning into Ino.

"How dare you say that to someone?" Tsuki asks, you can hear the acid in her voice. "What is so wrong in your fucked up brain that you have to tell someone to cut themselves to make you feel better about yourself?"

"I'm not doing it to make myself feel better. I do it because I know I'm better than you." Ino says. I shake my head. Ino doesn't know what's about to happen. Tsuki runs forward and connects her fist with Ino's face. Ino stumbles back, blood running down from her nose. Ino is on her knees on the ground, holding her nose. Tsuki kicks Ino hard in the ribs, making her fall over. Ino falls over and spits a little blood onto the floor. My eyes widen. I knew Tsuki was protective, but I didn't know she would go this far. Tsuki then walks away, a smirk decorating her face.

"Tsuki, "I say, nodding to Ino.

"Yeah, I know. I kicked her ass. So what?" She says, shrugging.

"Um, we should probably leave." I say, nodding to the door.

"Yeah, you're right." Pein says, and leads us out of the gym. On the way to the apartment, Pein's hand finds its way to mine, and our fingers intertwine. Tsuki's eyes return back to normal on the way there with time, and she calms down. When we arrive at the apartment, the rest of us are already there, accompanied by Kakuzu, who we hadn't seen at lunch that day. Itachi is there as well, along with Hidan, who Noki trots over to and she sits down next to him. Pein and I sit down next to each other on the floor, and he slips one of his arms behind my shoulders.

"So, Noki, what's up with you and Hidan?" Kisame asks out of nowhere. Noki looks surprised by this, and looks up at Kisame, who has one eyebrow raised and is curious.

"Oh, we're dating. You didn't know that?" She says, looking at all of us.

"I don't think any of us knew that." I say, looking at Noki.

"Then you're all fucking blind or some shit." Hidan says. I smirk at them. They're cute together. It's kind of weird though, Tsuki is the only single one out of all of us. I guess that might be because she's new, though. I wonder if she feels left out, although she does seem to like Itachi a lot. She's always looking at him, and they're always talking together, like today at lunch.

"So, what are we doing for Naomi's birthday?" Kisame asks, looking at me. I widen my eyes, they're planning stuff? I was not aware of this.

"We're not doing anything." I say firmly, looking at all of them.

"Why?" Deidara asks.

"Because my birthday is nothing special." I reply, looking down.

"Of course it is." Kisame says, grinning.

"Fine, but, just no surprise parties, okay? I hate surprises." I say, looking around at all of them again. They all nod and smile, those lying mother fuckers. I already know they're already planning stuff, no doubt about it. I have recently learned that Tsuki's room is on the side opposite of Noki's along with Karin, Suigetsu, Gaara, and Matsuri. She retreats to her room after a while of sitting around with us, but then returns very quickly, looking frantic and extremely confused. Although she says nothing I can tell that something is wrong. I'll have to ask her later, because I can't tell what's wrong right now. Nobody else seems to notice how Tsuki is a little jittery and sort of wide-eyed. I get up and return to my room. Soon after, Tsuki leaves and I can feel it because the edgy feeling is gone from the apartment. I lay down to take a nap and when I wake up my clock reads 2:24 AM. I go out into the kitchen because my mouth feels like it's dying of thirst. When I go out there, I find that Pein is sitting at one of the tables. His head is resting on the kitchen table. There is what looks to be a mug of coffee next to him; he doesn't lift his head when I enter the room. I walk around him and get some tap water from the sink. He still isn't moving. I crouch down next to him and touch his shoulder.

"Pein, are you alright?" I ask quietly. When he doesn't respond I shake his shoulder. His whole body jerks, and then he's awake. He looks really confused.

"Are you okay?" I ask, looking at him. He looks over at me, as if he didn't know I was there and then blinks in surprise.

"Oh, it's you. Yeah, I'm okay." He says, nodding.

"Why are you in the kitchen?" I ask, looking around. Nobody else appears to be awake or out of their rooms except for us.

"I don't know." He says, looking a little bewildered.

"Well, you probably shouldn't sleep out here. You'll screw up your back sleeping in a chair like that." I say, nodding to the chair. He nods and gets up.

"Good idea." He says. I stand up and walk to my room. I don't notice he's following me until he has closed the door behind me. I sit down on my bed not all that tired. He sits down next to me.

"Did you notice something off about Tsuki?" I ask him, looking over at him. He looks over at me.

"Yeah, she looked really surprised or something." He says. I nod.

"We should probably go to bed." He says, looking at me. I nod and we both lay down. I fall asleep and then wake up a few hours to my alarm clock. Pein shuts it off again. He lies behind me, his chin on my shoulder. He has his arms wrapped around my waist, and I can feel the piercings in his chest pressed against my back. I wonder if he can feel the piercings on my ribs and waist.

"Do we have to go to school?" I ask.

"Unfortunately, yes." He says, but doesn't move. I'm okay with this. I don't want to move either; it's cold outside of the blankets. I'd much rather stay warm and comfy under my mountain of pillows and blankets. The alarm clock goes off five minutes later; he must have hit the snooze button. He shifts this time, and then sits up. I stay lying down.

"We should probably get up now." He says, resting his hand on my back. I sigh and sit up.

"I don't like school." I say, frowning.

"Neither do I, darling." He says and gets up. He heads off to his room to change, and after another minute of sitting on my bed, wishing I could just lie down; I got up and walked over to my closet. I picked out one of my many, many band T-shirts to wear, and a pair of sky blue skinny jeans. On the front of the shirt it says "Pierce the Veil" and on the back it says "Collide with the Sky" After changing into that, I walked into the bathroom and did my normal routine, straighten my hair, put on make-up, and then leave. But before I leave, I remember to put on my shoes and then walk out into the kitchen. Itachi is sitting at the table, drinking tea. I think he does that every morning or at least every time that I've seen him in the morning. He acknowledges me by nodding at me when I sit down across from him. I now notice that there is a newspaper in front of him that was why he was looking down at the table. Deidara and Sasori sit on the couch, fighting over which channel to watch. I couldn't really hear the specific channels just that they were arguing. When do they not argue? A few minutes later Kakuzu walks out of his room and sits down at the table, Hidan close behind him. Kisame walks out from his room, yawning and rubbing one eye. Then Pein walks out, now in different clothes. He catches my eye and smiles at me. I smile back. Nobody seems to notice this, and if they do they keep quiet about it. Tsuki barges into the apartment a few minutes later. Pein has sat down in the seat next to me and Tsuki plops down in the one on the other side of me. She sighs and holds up her head by propping up her chin on her elbow. Itachi watches her sit in the chair. His eyes flash up to her, and then back to the newspaper over and over. I smile at this. I think it's cute how he has a little crush on her. Although, I'm not too sure how Tsuki feels about him. Does she even notice it when he watches her? Then again, they do talk a lot. But it's really none of my business.

"Was there math homework yesterday?" Kisame asks. I look over at him.

"I don't know. Do you ever do homework, Kisame?" I ask. He shrugs and picks up his backpack. We all follow him out the door and across campus to the school. As Tsuki and I are walking down the hallway to our lockers, we get stopped.

"Excuse me; are you Naomi Ayami, and Tsuki Hikari?" A teacher asks. I don't know what teacher it is, but I've seen them in the school office before.

"Yeah, why?" I ask, irritated.

"You're needed in the office. Pein, you need to come with me, too." She says. Pein nods and follows us to the office, where they tell us to sit for a while. I sit down in the middle of Tsuki and Pein.

"Why do you think we're here?" I ask quietly.

"It was probably Ino." Tsuki says.

"It's probably because Tsuki kicked her ass yesterday." Pein says, looking at me. I nod. A little later, the principal, who I've heard is a total dick, comes by.

"You three, follow me." He says. We get up and follow him. When we arrive in his office, he tells us to sit down. We sit down in the three dark blue chairs in his office. They're not even comfortable. His desk is a dark brown color, but it's not really made of wood. Or at least it doesn't look like it. He sits down at the desk and folds his hands in front of him.

"Naomi, do you know what happened in gym yesterday?" He asks.

"What do you mean? We had gym class and then we went home." I say.

"Well, Ino said something else happened, wanna tell me about that?" He asks, looking at me. I fucking knew it. She told the teachers that we kicked her ass. She started it anyway. It's not like we just walked up to her and randomly beat her up. She's such a fucking liar. Tsuki's eyes turn a shade of burgundy. She's pissed too. Noki isn't here, which is good. She doesn't need to be dragged into this like the rest of us. None of the other guys are here, so I don't really get why Pein is. None of us answer him. The room falls silent, and the principal keeps his eyes on me. Pein hasn't moved since he sat down. He's angry, too. He keeps a permanent scowl on his face while he looks over the principal. His eyes flash to me and he half-smirks for a split second and then scowl at the principal again. Instead of me answering, Tsuki speaks up.

"What did Ino say?" She asks, the ends of her mouth dip down as well.

"She said that you three targeted her, and hurt her physically and emotionally in gym class." He replies, one eyebrow raised.

"Did she tell you what she did?" Pein asks his voice harsh. I remember how mad he had been when she said those things to me.

"No, Miss Yamanaka did not inform me. Did anything happen before what you did?" He asks, looking towards me.

"Yeah, things happened before then." I say, getting angry.

"What happened?" He asks.

"She came up to us and called Pein and me emo kids, and Tsuki a dumb blonde." I say.

"And what did you say back?" He asks.

"Well, considering she started the fight, I called her the dumb blonde and told her she probably shouldn't mess with Tsuki." I reply.

"Ok and what happened after that?" He asks. I look down at my hands in my lap and fall silent.

"She called Naomi and emo bitch and told her to go cut herself." Pein says, anger fused in with his voice.

"I see." He says. "But since the adult thing to do would have been not to react violently, but walk away, I'm sentencing all of you to a day of detention." He says, writing something down on a piece of paper.

"Pein, is it true that you and Naomi have a romantic relationship with each other?" He asks. Pein blinks a few times, staying silent. It's true. But how does he even know that?

"My personal life is none of your business." He says, looking angry.

"Since it includes another student, it actually is my business." He replies.

"Then, yes. We're dating." Pein replies. The principal turns to me.

"Is this true, Miss Ayami?" He asks.

"Yes. But I still don't see why you would need to know if Pein and I are together." I say.

"I am the principal. That's my right." He says. I roll my eyes. Whatever. After that he dismisses us and writes passes for us to our class. We leave the office and walk down the hallway to our lockers. We didn't get the chance to go to them before that teacher pulled us into the office.

"He can fuck off." Pein says, grabbing my hand as we walk down the hallway.

"Don't let it get to you. Although, you'll probably get into more trouble now that we're dating." I say, smirking.

"Very true. I've never been in the principal's office before today." He says, grinning. I grin back and open my locker. I grab out my binder and my reading book and shut my locker. Pein closes his locker soon after and Tsuki follows us to Social Studies, because math is already done with by now. When we walk in, we give the passes to our teacher, who rips them up and throws them away. When we sit down the bell rings, and we walk to art class. When we get there, Noki is there sitting at the table.

"Hey. What happened? I saw a teacher take you guy to the office." She asks, as we approach the table.

"Ino told them that we beat her up for no reason." Pein says, sitting down. I sit down too. Tsuki sits down in her spot, and Sasuke glances over at her and looks back to his paper, where he is drawing or writing or something. When Anko shows up she dismisses us for lunch. After Pein and I tell everybody what happened, Ino walks by.

"Have fun in detention." She hisses as she walks by. I reach behind me and flip her off, not even bothering to turn around. She scoffs and walks away. Kisame grins and laughs. Pein smirks. Noki and Tsuki glare at her as she walks away. She's not even worth it anymore. I don't have to look like a whore for people to like me, and I'm just fine with that. After lunch, we got o P.E. Ino doesn't even look at me throughout the whole class period. Pein, Tsuki and I walk back to the math room, where they hold detention at the end of the day. When we enter the room, a few of the students look up at us. There aren't too many kids. Maybe, five. There's a kid with bright red hair that I've never seen before. Another has long brown hair and really dark eyes. Sakura is there, along with Karin. And the last is a guy with black hair, with a dark beanie hat over it. He doesn't look up when we enter the room. I take a seat behind the guy with the beanie and Pein sits next to me, Tsuki on my other side, who is behind Sakura. Detention is until 4. And school ends at 3:30. It's not that bad, but it's boring as all hell, because you sit there with nothing to do. Unless you brought a book, which I did not. Detention, a day before my birthday. Gee, life, you sure have a way of making things suck. I had put all of my stuff in my locker, and all I have is a pen tucked into my pocket. Suddenly, a paper floats down and lands on my desk. It's been ripped from a full piece of paper, and has something written on it. The teacher in the room isn't really paying attention, so I pick up the paper. It reads "I like your shirt. ~Cody (I'm sitting in front of you)" I smirk. I don't even know him, but it's nice to know that he likes decent music. I flip the piece of paper over and write "You're a fan of PTV? That means you like decent music. I have a feeling we'll be good friends. ~Naomi (I'm sitting behind you)" I throw it over his head and onto his desk when the teacher isn't looking. He glances back at me and smirks and then unravels the paper. After a little bit he throws a paper back. It reads "Yeah, I am. You like decent music also. By the way, I like your piercings. ~Cody" I smile and look around the room. Pein is looking over at me with a confused expression on his face. I smile at him and write back "Thanks. Your hat is nice. ~Naomi" and throw it back. Pein watches me write back and then throw it. I look back to him and he looks even more confused than before. The rest of the conversation goes like this:

"Thanks. So, what're you in for? ~Cody"

"Some bitch said that I beat her up for no reason. What about you? ~Naomi"

"Ah. I've been there before. I'm in for cussing at a teacher. ~Cody"

"Nice. So, what other music are you into? ~Naomi"

"I like Asking Alexandria and Bring Me the Horizon, that kind of thing. ~Cody"

"Me too. I love both of them. We should hang out sometime. ~Naomi"

"We should. How's today after detention? ~Cody"

"Sure. ~Naomi" After writing this I remember Pein telling me that today after school he had to go to the library to help restock books because they couldn't find anybody else to help. The teacher dismisses us and Pein quickly gets up and puts his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm gonna go." He says, nodding to the door. I nod and stand up. I remember to grab my pen and put it back in my pocket. Cody stands up and then turns around, looks at me and then smirks. We walk to the door and then leave.

"We haven't formally met. I'm Cody." He says, holding out his hand and smirking. He's taller than me, and now I realize that he has snakebites.

"I'm Naomi." I say, smirking back and shaking his hand.

"I have to go to my locker and get my jacket." I say, leading him down the hallway. He follows me and when we reach my locker he leans back against the nearest wall. I quickly open my locker and grab my jacket. It's an Of Mice and Men zip-up hoodie. On the front it says "Of Mice & Men" along with a picture of the band and on the back at the bottom it says "This is not what it is only baby scars. I need your love, like a boy needs his mother's side." In the shape of a & sign. I shut my locker after I slide on my jacket. I zip it up as we start walking again.

"So, I haven't seen you around school at all. Are you new?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm new this year. I'm a sophomore." I reply. He nods.

"That's why. I'm a junior, one year ahead of you." He says, smirking. I nod.

"So, how old are you? You look young for a sophomore." He says, looking at me.

"I'm 15." I say, looking down.

"Really? When's your birthday then?" He asks, grinning.

"It's tomorrow, actually." I say. "My friends are planning stuff, although they say that they aren't." I say.

"Can I meet them?" He asks, looking over at me.

"Are you sure?" I say. He nods. I shrug and lead him to our complex, when I get there everybody is home but Pein. I open the door cautiously, looking around for anything weird that would creep him out. After all, he is a new friend of mine and I don't need Hidan scaring him off. I turn around and face him again.

"I'm sorry in advance." I say and open the door. He walks in, me right behind him. Kisame, who is in the kitchen, looks at Cody like he's an intruder and then sees me.

"Naomi, who's this?" He asks, eyeing Cody.

"This is Cody. I met him in detention today." I say, grinning.

"Hi." Cody says quietly, giving a small wave in his direction.

"Where's Pein?" Kisame asks.

"Oh, he had to go help in the library." I reply. Kisame nods and then finds his way back to his room. I turn around and smirk at Cody.

"You're so awkward with new people." I say, laughing.

"I know." He says, smiling.

"You know what I did on my first day here?" I ask, looking at him. He shrugs and shakes his head.

"I punched one of my roommates in the face." I say, my voice mixed with giggles at the memory.

"Really? Who?" Cody asks, laughing.

"Hidan. You haven't met him yet. That was Kisame." I say, nodding in the direction of Kisame's room. He nods.

"Nice." He says. I smile and nod. After standing around in the kitchen for a few more minutes, we sit down on the couch in the living room and watch TV. We just sit there and talk, and occasionally greet whoever walks through the door and introduce Cody to them, but he's not all that social. About an hour after we get to the apartment, Pein walks in the door. He looks tired.

"Pein!" I say, getting up from the couch and walking over to him.

"Hey," He says and smiles. I smile back and hug him. I have to stand on my tip toes just to get my hands on his shoulders. He wraps his arms around my waist and kisses my cheek. I grin and let go. Cody is standing uncomfortably in the living room, looking down at the floor. I grab Pein's hand and lead him over to where Cody stands.

"Pein, this is Cody. Cody this is Pein, he's my boyfriend." I say, smiling. Cody smiles and offers a small wave.

"Hey." He says quietly. Pein seems a little weirded-out by Cody's presence. He seems a little confused.

"Oh, you're that guy from detention, huh? Yeah, you two were throwing paper at each other." Pein says, grinning at Cody.

"Yeah," Cody says, nodding and smiling. They seem to be getting along okay.

"I should probably get going. Naomi, do you want my phone number? Just to keep in touch?" He asks, looking at me. I nod and smile at him. I hand him my phone and he types in the number.

"Ok, I'll see you later." He says, waving. He leaves, shutting the door behind him. Pein turns to me and smiles.

"I missed you." He says, taking a step forward and wrapping his arms around my waist. I giggle and lean my forehead against his.

"I missed you, too." I say, smiling. He leans forward and kisses me. I kiss back and smile.

"Whoa! Get a room!" I hear Kisame yell. I laugh and look over to find Kisame coming out of his room. His face is a mix between a grin, and a grossed-out face. I laugh again and lean against Pein. Pein chuckles and grins over at Kisame.

"You're just jealous." Pein says, and leans his forehead against mine again. Kisame sighs and stalks back into his room.

**A/N: So, this is the new chapter. I'm sorry it took so long to get up, I had major writer's block. Anyways! I hope you enjoyed it. You should leave me a review and tell me what you think. **

**~Aiko**


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